New Sport Idea: Brock Bashing!
By Curtis Clontz on Jul 14, 2009
Ever since the curtains closed on UFC 100 the talk of the town has been Brock Lesnar and his post fight antics. We talked about them as we recorded our Podcast that will be up later this week, but it turns out that we aren’t the only ones with Brock on the brain. UFC prospect Shane Carwin is the most popular of the day so far.
His thoughts are after the jump…
Shane has his very own blog where he shares his thoughts. In the link, he discusses the Brock Lesnar fight and shares his opinion of the antics…
“I cannot say I was surprised by anything that night other then Brock’s reaction to beating a very tough Frank Mir. Frank is a legend and a great guy who got out powered not out classed. The sponsor issue, you need to talk to your manager not the fans or Dana.
The flipping off of the fans that just lined your pocket with millions of dollars is just LAME. He may be a Champion but he has a long ways to go before he earns the respect of a Champion. The fans are why we do this Brock, this sport is not about fat paychecks and drama it is about hard work and sacrifice for a shot to do what you did last night. It doesn’t matter how much money you make if you can’t earn your peers respect and the respect and love of the greatest sporting fans in the world. We have no scripts in this sport, no pre-determined earning amount and no pre-determined outcomes. It doesn’t matter if you win or loose it matters how you win or loose.
Every autograph I give, every hand I shake I am thankful that you give me the opportunity to be a part of your world. This is the greatest sport int he world and most of the athletes in it deserve the love and respect they get and some just dont get it.”
My favorite part of the blog is where he talks about winning. In my opinion you have to act like you have been there before. If a person is the champion, they are a cut above. Children, wives, and mothers were all watching UFC 100. Sure, the show is not rated PG, but have the common decency to be respectful. If not to the fans that are paying your paychecks, to your opponant that has shed the same blood, sweat, and tears that you have over the past few months.
For example…The way Frank Mir reacted about the antics. He could have really dissed Brock for his attitude and how he acted, but Frank understood the situation. He was smart enough to respect his opponant and admit defeat. He may have been beaten to a pulp, had a face that looked like Hitch, but for that moment he had won, and not Brock.
Unfortunately that win was just a moral one and doesn’t count on any fight finders or databases. It was just that, a moral victory.
Brock will continue to get better as a fighter, but he will also get better at becoming the person he needs to be, and that person is the real Brock Lesnar.
Filed Under: MMA
First Carwin hit the nail on the head, but he’s a class act. When Mir tried to touch gloves and Lesnar did not, I knew something would happen. The best situation would have been if Lesnar had lost, but that did not happen. And as a New Yorker I can say “thank you” to Brock, you just gave all of the MMA opponents here blocking its legalization more ammo. But hey you got the belt and the check huh?
Bill
I hope his actions weren’t that impressionable. MMA needs to come to NY! MMA at MSG only makes sense!
Brock actions are not new in MMA or combat sports. Brock is not Rich Franklin or Randy Couture. War Machine got kicked out of the UFC for statements made OUTSIDE of the cage. We’re talking about people who fight for sport, or for a living. I believe Bloody Elbow has a decent article concerning the history of theatrics in combat sports. Muhammad Ali could have acted like Joe Louis but he was more like Jack Johnson. Although tennis is far from a combat sport, John McEnroe was one of the most colorful characters. He was frown upon, but he did sell tickets.
Brock will probably not continue to diss corporate sponsors, but the fans that he was flipping off are the same fans that are quick booo foreign fighters, booo jiu-jitsu practitioners for their lack of stand-up action, scream just bleed or paint it on their skin, booo a fighter because he KO’ed their favorite fighter, etc.
I say all that to say, those same fans that boooooooed Brock Lesnar will pay to see him smash another fighter AND we probably keep paying to see him get beat up. Not too long ago there was a very incendiary boxer who incited the media and the fans with vulgar interviews, a nasty-selfish-immature-sexist attitude and they loved-hated him for it. And many boxing fans paid money to watch him eventually fall . .. and he fell hard.
But Brock Lesnar is way smarter than Mike Tyson. He knows when how to push the right buttons.
I think Brock just got caught up in the moment and his “pro wrestler” personna came out. He apologized after Dana White verbally raped him. Brock knows whos the boss.
Hopefully he actually listens and improves on his post fight behavior…
Honestly Curtis…Brock showed class and professionalism after the Randy fight. I gained respect for him after that fight. Then I lost it all after this last one. With some fans, they will love his antics. Others, Brock has to build his image up again.
I guarantee you he won’t diss the sponsors again. Dana will put the Corporate Bitch Slap submission on him. The other antics…they may or may not happen. What Brock did reminds me of another fighter who did things like that and he was the face of the UFC….Tito Ortiz.
Ditto! Tito Ortiz was the first sports entertainment fighter in the UFC and that’s why he still holds the record for the highest gate in the UFC at 5.3 million – with Liddell of course.
As long as Brock doesn’t flip off Bud, Dana doesn’t have a problem.
The comparisons to Boxing or any other sport aren’t relevant because those sports are already established and legalized in America. MMA is still fighting to be socially accepted and Brock’s antics are not going to help. As I was at the gym yesterday all people wanted to talk about was Lesnar’s antics. Not GSP’s dominance, not Henderson’s KO, not even Brock’s performance against Mir. And it was mixed, but most were either disgusted by Lesnar (especially the boxing crowd) or were acting like it was the coolest thing ever (guys who only get the PPV’s when Lesnar is on them)! Most of the guys I know who were into MMA were a little upset, but when a guy who is a trainer for boxers said it proved that MMA was nothing but a bunch of “street thugs” and resembled “pro-wrestling” what could I say? I mean I could argue every other fight on the card and cards before, but the lasting impression from UFC 100 is going to be Lesnar at the end of the fight.
UFC 100 BUFFER 360
i can def see the comparison between him and Tito. Excpet Tito understood the “game” a bit more and was able to get the fans on his side not diss them…
I agree, I actually made comments on his good behavior after the Randy fight, but it is a what have you done for me lately world…
Bill
1. the boxing crowd is definitely hypocritical.
“What could you say?”** Is he aware of how many characters that are and were in boxing?!? The FREAKING promoters are far worse than Dana White.
2. MMA is established, socially acceptable and it is legal. Not legal in some states but legal in many others. It is socially acceptable to hit an opponent over the head with a hockey stick and fight in the middle of an ice rink. Hockey has characters. The NF-freakin-L has more than its share of characters and in some regards, no different than MMA. At the end of the day, corporate co-signs, ESPN, SI, major media coverage indicates that it is definitely socially acceptable. Chuck Liddell on HBO’s and GSP Gatorade = Mainstream.
End note, most of those same people who were appalled at Brock’s post-fight antics will probably watch another Lesnar PPV. They’re also the same a**holes who mess up traffic because they’re slowing down to watch a accident.
So we are saying that Brock Lesnar is like a train wreck…You want to look away but you just can’t….