Doggy Bag: The Importance of Lesnar
The Doggy Bag
Everyone answers to somebody, so we, the staff at Sherdog.com, have
decided to defer to our readers.
“The Doggy Bag” gives you the opportunity to speak about what’s on your mind from time to time.
Our reporters, columnists, radio hosts, and editors will chime in
with our answers and thoughts, so keep the emails coming.
This week, readers weigh-in on the return of Brock Lesnar and fighters shuffling between weight divisions.
Sherdog, I’d like to hear a staff member chime in on the return of Brock Lesnar and what it means for the UFC.
-- Justin W.
Brian Knapp, associate editor: In short, more money. Lesnar, in his brief career, has become the promotion’s most dependable cash cow and its most polarizing figure. The two go hand-in-hand, of course. His return equals more lucrative gates and higher pay-per-view buy rates. That, in itself, has to be music to UFC President Dana White’s ears.
From a competitive standpoint, it gives the UFC a superstar heavyweight around which to build. Lesnar, a young 32 and still developing as a mixed martial artist, provides the promotion countless options with which to work, assuming he can return to full strength. He figures to face the Frank Mir-Shane Carwin winner in a title unification bout sometime this summer. Should Lesnar pass that test, possible matchups with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos loom.
The more important question surrounding Lesnar centers on what can be expected from him inside the cage. To face one’s own mortality at such a young age can bring about permanent change, mentally and physically, and there are no guarantees we will ever again see the same fighter who demolished Mir at UFC 100 in July. The UFC certainly has considered the possibility.
Fortunately, the UFC’s heavyweight division is far better prepared to withstand the potential loss of someone like Lesnar. Mir’s resurrection, Carwin’s emergence and the continued development of Velasquez and dos Santos, plus the arrival of prospects like Todd Duffee, give the company alternatives it did not have a few short years ago. It’s a far cry from when Tim Sylvia ruled the division.
“The Doggy Bag” gives you the opportunity to speak about what’s on your mind from time to time.
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This week, readers weigh-in on the return of Brock Lesnar and fighters shuffling between weight divisions.
Sherdog, I’d like to hear a staff member chime in on the return of Brock Lesnar and what it means for the UFC.
-- Justin W.
Brian Knapp, associate editor: In short, more money. Lesnar, in his brief career, has become the promotion’s most dependable cash cow and its most polarizing figure. The two go hand-in-hand, of course. His return equals more lucrative gates and higher pay-per-view buy rates. That, in itself, has to be music to UFC President Dana White’s ears.
From a competitive standpoint, it gives the UFC a superstar heavyweight around which to build. Lesnar, a young 32 and still developing as a mixed martial artist, provides the promotion countless options with which to work, assuming he can return to full strength. He figures to face the Frank Mir-Shane Carwin winner in a title unification bout sometime this summer. Should Lesnar pass that test, possible matchups with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos loom.
The more important question surrounding Lesnar centers on what can be expected from him inside the cage. To face one’s own mortality at such a young age can bring about permanent change, mentally and physically, and there are no guarantees we will ever again see the same fighter who demolished Mir at UFC 100 in July. The UFC certainly has considered the possibility.
Fortunately, the UFC’s heavyweight division is far better prepared to withstand the potential loss of someone like Lesnar. Mir’s resurrection, Carwin’s emergence and the continued development of Velasquez and dos Santos, plus the arrival of prospects like Todd Duffee, give the company alternatives it did not have a few short years ago. It’s a far cry from when Tim Sylvia ruled the division.
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