Brock Lesnar Victorious Over Mark Hunt

[Jack-Hammer]

In what was his first MMA fight in roughly 4.5 years, Brock Lesnar defeated Mark Hunt via unanimous decision at tonight's UFC 200 event with judges scoring it 29-27 for all three rounds.

Generally speaking, Lesnar pretty much dominated the fight by playing to his strengths of using his wrestling skills to repeatedly take Hunt down. Hunt's known more as a striker and Lesnar fought a smart bout by not trying to fight the sort of fight that Hunt is more comfortable with. The fight itself was fairly dull with things starting off slow in the first round with Lesnar ultimately taking Hunt down a couple of times, catching him with a few solid punches and a knee to the side; he ultimately controlled the pace and kept Hunt down. The second round was really slow as, it seemed to me, that Hunt was reluctant to get close to Lesnar, for obvious reasons, while Lesnar looked winded from the efforts of the first round. Not a whole helluva lot of action with Lesnar mostly avoiding Hunt's punches and pinning him up against the cage. For the third round, Hunt came out really firing punches but he never really managed to connect with anything solid before Lesnar eventually took him down to the mat for the fourth time. Eventually Lesnar started throwing punches of his own and eventually got into a full mount position and was clubbing Hunt with lefts and rights. Hunt made a last ditch effort to stand up when there was about 10 or 12 seconds on the clock, but Lesnar smothered him and scored the unanimous decision by ultimately dominating the 1st and 3rd rounds while ultimately keeping Hunt totally off his game in the 2nd.

Lesnar was noncommittal regarding his future in the post fight interview by simply saying that he was taking things "one day at a time." Personally, I think Lesnar will try to have at least one more MMA fight and I won't be at all surprised if, much to the dismay of many MMA fans I'm sure, the UFC honchos finagle it into a UFC Heavyweight Championship fight.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

This is great. I'm sure Lesnar will set up future fights, but that's fine. I'm looking forward to SummerSlam even more and especially Paul Heyman's promos.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Was there any doubt though really? Did anyone on the planet think Hunt had a chance in this fight?

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Was there any doubt though really? Did anyone on the planet think Hunt had a chance in this fight?

Well Hunt was favored to win by the betters.

 

[L@RISANO]

With Cain Velasquez winning his fight tonight as well, one has to wonder if a rematch is on the cards between him and Brock in the near future.

 

[OYDK]

Was there any doubt though really? Did anyone on the planet think Hunt had a chance in this fight?

You serious? I don't think many people expected Brock Lesnar to come in after a 5 year hiatus and beat the strongest striker in the history of UFC.

Wrestling fans maybe, but not fight fans.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Yea most people who had a clue thought Hunt was going to win. This was a genuinely shocking and awe-inspiring performance by Lesnar


Imagine if Brock had still been on a multi year wwe title run.

WWE should start using all the money they burn in the filth of the street to warm the homeless.

 

[L@RISANO]

You serious? I don't think many people expected Brock Lesnar to come in after a 5 year hiatus and beat the strongest striker in the history of UFC.

Wrestling fans maybe, but not fight fans.

The general consensus everywhere seemed to be that Brock was biting off more than he could chew, and that Mark Hunt was gonna KO him in quick time.


2+ Years on, and I think it is safe to say that WWE did the right thing by having Brock Lesnar be the one to conquer the Undertaker's WrestleMania streak. WWE's job is to build some legit contenders for conquering Brock whilst he still has a deal in place with them. #RoadToRedemption

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Wow, and people who saw what kind of shape Lesnar was in still thought Hunt was going to win? Phew. Hunt is way overated and the second this fight was announced we had Lesnar eating this guy alive in the first round. Good for Hunt has lasted until the second though.

Edit: He lasted three rounds, my bad.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

Was there any doubt though really? Did anyone on the planet think Hunt had a chance in this fight?

Could you possibly exhibit any more ignorance about this fight? Hunt was the favorite and almost every MMA "expert" picked Hunt to win.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Could you possibly exhibit any more ignorance about this fight? Hunt was the favorite and almost every MMA "expert" picked Hunt to win.

I'm glad you put expert in quotations. Joe Hillbilly at the store doesn't even watch MMA and knew Lesnar was wrecking Hunt. I'm shocked Hunt was the favorite to win. I guess that they were going on Brock's chin in the past, understandable.

 

[Rayne]

Was there any doubt though really? Did anyone on the planet think Hunt had a chance in this fight?

Yeah, most fight fans and Vegas both thought Hunt was by far the more likelier winner, given Hunt's absolutely insane striking and Lesnar's suspect chin.

But Lesnar fought very smart, kept low, and threw more double-leg takedowns then I think I've ever seen in a UFC fight before. Mark Hunt was never able to establish range or counter Brock on the ground, and Brock was able to grind out a win, which is pretty much the calculus for a Lesnar fight.

Huge props to Lesnar; he fought a very smart fight against one of the more dangerous threats to him that he could have fought in the heavyweight division. As far as what this means for Brock's future, who knows. The WWE assuredly will have a say in that, but it might be to their benefit to have him fight again in the UFC.

 

[Bernkastel]

IMO a great wrestler will almost always defeat a great boxer. I say almost because there's that chance that the boxer will decide a decisive blow before being taken to the ground. That didn't happen tonight. Brock took Hunt down and kept him there. The fight was his.

As for the WWE, Brock was already on a pedestal. All this fight really does is cement why he's on that pedestal to begin with. I would still like to see competitive, back and forth matches out of Lesnar with any opponent he might be matched with [next is Orton.] Otherwise there is zero point of having him on the card if he is just going to blow out opponents one after the other.

 

[ShinChan]

2+ Years on, and I think it is safe to say that WWE did the right thing by having Brock Lesnar be the one to conquer the Undertaker's WrestleMania streak.

I respectfully disagree, sir.

It was surely a wrong decision. Infact, it was a great missed opportunity by WWE. Brock didn't need the tag of "Conqueror of Undertaker's streak". He didn't need the rub off Undertaker. A young upcoming talent like Bray Wyatt etc could be turned into a star through this breaking of streak.

 

[MoRtAnDaD]

I respectfully disagree, sir.

It was surely a wrong decision. Infact, it was a great missed opportunity by WWE. Brock didn't need the tag of "Conqueror of Undertaker's streak". He didn't need the rub off Undertaker. A young upcoming talent like Bray Wyatt etc could be turned into a star through this breaking of streak.

I respectfully disagree bud, Bray (or whoever) can still beat Lesnar clean, and now it means even more than before. If there was something missing to legitimize Lesnar as an unbeatable beast, was a win over a legit UFC fighter (one if not the hardest hitter in the category).

 

[Navi]

Didn't get to see the fight, was at the house show in Toronto and didn't make it home in time. Not surprised to see Lesnar win though. Watched the weigh in and he dwarfed Hunt and looked in much better shape physically. Not taking anything away from Hunt, but shit who would want to go up against Lesnar when he's in great form.

I guess it remains to be seen what will happen for Lesnar after this. I know he still has his contract with the WWE, but have the feeling we'll be seeing less and less of him, if that's possible, and he'll continue in UFC for another go round.

 

[Uncle Sam]

You can add me to the extensive list of people who were fairly certain that Lesnar wasn't just going to lose but was going to get knocked unconscious within the first two rounds. It doesn't matter how much of a tire Hunt has around his stomach, he's a world class heavyweight fighter with fists made of concrete. Add to that Lesnar's usual response to getting hit - to curl into a ball - and you had a recipe for a punctured reputation.

Lesnar did well. He used his superior range to discourage Hunt and keep away from Hunt's punches and used his superior size and skill to take Hunt to the ground from what weren't easy positions, and then keep Hunt there, and work (i.e. constant hammerfists) so that the referee didn't stand them up.

The only real disappointment was that Lesnar didn't come out to his WWE theme music, which was supposed to happen and was fairly widely reported shortly after the fight was first announced. Sandman must be fuming.

 

[realoldskoolfan]

IMO a great wrestler will almost always defeat a great boxer. I say almost because there's that chance that the boxer will decide a decisive blow before being taken to the ground. That didn't happen tonight. Brock took Hunt down and kept him there. The fight was his.

As for the WWE, Brock was already on a pedestal. All this fight really does is cement why he's on that pedestal to begin with. I would still like to see competitive, back and forth matches out of Lesnar with any opponent he might be matched with [next is Orton.] Otherwise there is zero point of having him on the card if he is just going to blow out opponents one after the other.

This. Is there anyway they can make it believable that anybody can beat him? This IMO adds onto the corner that the WWE has booked themselves into with Brock. Realistically nobody should be able to touch him.

 

[Rayne]

IMO a great wrestler will almost always defeat a great boxer. I say almost because there's that chance that the boxer will decide a decisive blow before being taken to the ground. That didn't happen tonight. Brock took Hunt down and kept him there. The fight was his.

As for the WWE, Brock was already on a pedestal. All this fight really does is cement why he's on that pedestal to begin with. I would still like to see competitive, back and forth matches out of Lesnar with any opponent he might be matched with [next is Orton.] Otherwise there is zero point of having him on the card if he is just going to blow out opponents one after the other.

I can hardly wait for CM Punk to finally fight, because that's when the sudden experts will really start to come out of the woodwork.

Mark Hunt is not a boxer. He got his start quite a while ago in MMA as a kickboxer, but the sport has changed drastically in the fifteen years he's been around, and he's successfully adapted his game to the point where saying he's a 'boxer' is completely inaccurate. He is a much more powerful striker than he is a grappler and will always prefer to fight on the feet, however.

Distilling any MMA fight to 'wrestler vs. boxer' is an oversimplification, even if it might be an easy one to make in this case; neither fighter has the well-rounded toolset required to be top-tier in the UFC. (Although, heavyweight division, so constantly lacking in well-rounded fighters compared to the other divisions.) Brock Lesnar won because he stayed low and out of Mark Hunt's power zone, and it seemed Mark Hunt had expected Lesnar to work through his strikes for the takedowns as his sprawl defense seemed lacking. (From the range Brock was shooting from, he honestly had no business succeeding on most of those takedowns.)

It was a well-executed game plan by Lesnar's team, and poor strategy by the Hunt team. If you want to talk 'wrestler vs. boxer', watch Alistair Overeem's fight against Lesnar, where Lesnar had absolutely no answers to Overeem's offense and got pasted. As far as distilling it down to the archetype? "What's Best" in MMA is consistently shifting, with the caveat that any top-tier fighter needs to be well versed in all disciplines. Wrestlers were very dominant around five years ago, but the sport currently tends to favor long, rangy strikers with 'enough' wrestling/jiu-jitsu defense, like Aldo or McGregor, or former wrestlers who rely on that as a background while pursuing a striking game, like Stipe Miocic or Cain Velasquez.

The only real disappointment was that Lesnar didn't come out to his WWE theme music, which was supposed to happen and was fairly widely reported shortly after the fight was first announced. Sandman must be fuming.

I was begging for Paul Heyman to come out and do the introductions. Fuck, it was a freak show fight anyways, right? (Well, it didn't turn out to be, but we were all thinking it.) Why not go full bore with it?

Also, my jaw literally dropped when I saw the UFC play a SummerSlam promo. I'm sure that was part of the Lesnar deal, but I can't even imagine that happening even a year ago.

 

[enviousdominous]

While coming back to the UFC and winning is noteworthy, beating Mark Hunt in that fight isn't. Hear me out; while Mark is most certainly one of the top strikers in MMA, his biggest win of his career was against CroCop back in 2005. This fight -- to me -- was just a test of Lesnar's mental discipline, and he easily passed. It also played into the hands of his critics who say that Lesnar's just a giant loaf of quilted together muscle that wins by taking his opponents down and laying on them.

With Cain Velasquez winning his fight tonight as well, one has to wonder if a rematch is on the cards between him and Brock in the near future.

Um, no. If Brock as an ounce of sense about himself, he won't challenge Cain. Coming back for an occasional exhibition match against forty year old opponents who have literally nothing to lose by competing is the best way for Brock to remain MMA relevant. Brock wouldn't just lose to Cain, he would look stupid for the thirty second duration of that match.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

You can add me to the extensive list of people who were fairly certain that Lesnar wasn't just going to lose but was going to get knocked unconscious within the first two rounds. It doesn't matter how much of a tire Hunt has around his stomach, he's a world class heavyweight fighter with fists made of concrete. Add to that Lesnar's usual response to getting hit - to curl into a ball - and you had a recipe for a punctured reputation.

Lesnar did well. He used his superior range to discourage Hunt and keep away from Hunt's punches and used his superior size and skill to take Hunt to the ground from what weren't easy positions, and then keep Hunt there, and work (i.e. constant hammerfists) so that the referee didn't stand them up.

The only real disappointment was that Lesnar didn't come out to his WWE theme music, which was supposed to happen and was fairly widely reported shortly after the fight was first announced. Sandman must be fuming.

I was soooo let down. One of the biggest appeals to me was hearing that music at a ufc fight and seeing absolutely belligerent Paul Heyman walking beside him to the fight. Both of which were widely reported, neither of which happened. That's what we get for trusting the sheets.

This really should have been framed as Brock Leaner the WWE star coming to town to whip someone for real, and there was nearly ZERO done to make it as such. Missed opportunities

 

[Navi]

This. Is there anyway they can make it believable that anybody can beat him? This IMO adds onto the corner that the WWE has booked themselves into with Brock. Realistically nobody should be able to touch him.

That's what I said on another thread. No one in the WWE should be able to touch Lesnar. If they can go toe to toe with him in UFC then fine, but otherwise he is untouchable.

I can hardly wait for CM Punk to finally fight, because that's when the sudden experts will really start to come out of the woodwork.

Also, my jaw literally dropped when I saw the UFC play a SummerSlam promo. I'm sure that was part of the Lesnar deal, but I can't even imagine that happening even a year ago.

If Punk eventually does fight I'm of the belief that it will be short and sweet and not in his favour. I'm no expert, but if his fight goes about as well as his training has, he's a done deal before he even steps through the cage door.

Dana White said in an interview that they would be cross promoting some of the WWE events because the WWE cross promoted this one. It's sort of a you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. My guess is it will only be events that Lesnar is involved in to maximize his exposure for both companies.

 

[Dave]

I know that the bookies expected this to be a close fight, with Hunt probably being too strong on his feet for Lesnar to cope with. With truth be told, I was always expecting a win for The Beast Incarnate. Lesnar was looking very toned for the match and had obviously been doing something well in his camp. Moreover, he looked like he towered over Mark Hunt and looked physically imposing when both men were in the octagon together. Finally, that match went exactly the way I imagined it would. Lesnar knew that he wouldn't be able to stand and trade with Hunt, so he used his wrestling to control the fight and kept Mark hunt where he wanted him for most of the fight. In truth, it was a simple fight that I always expected to go the way it did.

What is startling, however, is just how gassed Lesnar got after the first round. The second round was the worst round of the match by far, and it was mainly because Lesnar had blown his load in the first round and couldn't take the fight to Hunt like he wanted to. If he is going to fight again, then he is going to have to put some more work into his endurance. I said it last night when I was watching and I'll say it again now, if he were up against a better fighter than Mark Hunt, who also doesn't have a lot of endurance, he would probably have lost last night.

As for a match with Cain Velasquez, I am tepid about it. This was a nice cross over event that worked out for everyone involved. It was a good opponent for Lesnar and he came off doing exactly what he said he would do. His work is done in the UFC for now. I don't see the WWE allowing him to go over again in the near future. The WWE have used the UFC to promote one of their biggest events and whilst that is a good thing, the WWE have nothing to gain by continuing to gamble with the performance of Lesnar in an octagon.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'm of the opinion that many of the various "experts" have a bias against Brock Lesnar because of his ties to pro wrestling. He's never really been given the benefit of the doubt by a lot of them and has just been sort of written off because they feel that, for some strange reason, nobody who's worked as a professional wrestler can be a credible mixed martial arts fighter.

Lesnar will probably never be viewed as one of the "all time greats" in UFC history as there's still simply too much of a stigma surrounding the crossover of pro wrestling and mixed martial arts despite Lesnar's success or Bobby Lashley's 14-2 record and has been viewed by many as one of the top heavyweights in MMA for several years. A lot of MMA fans can be as picky as pro wrestling fans when you consider the reaction Lesnar received, at times, last night because he fought the fight his way instead of letting it turn into a strike fest; former boxing heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis used to get criticism for playing to his strengths rather than the strengths of his opponents by using his size and long reach to keep his opponents at a distance.

It's sort of little wonder why Hunt suspected that Lesnar was doping because, as has been pointed out, Lesnar looked to be in phenomenal shape while Hunt just sort of looked like a middle aged guy that, while still in pretty good shape overall, is going to seed. Lesnar's biggest weakness seems to be his cardio, though playing to his strengths as a grappler does lessen that weakness somewhat. Again, Lesnar knows his strengths and knows what style best works for him.

 

[S.J. Maximus]

I was on the edge of my seat all last night, and like the majority of the viewers I was thinking Lesnar may be a TKO victim.

3 nervous rounds later Brock emerged unanimously victorious and it honestly is the best thing that could've happened for both Brock and the WWE Universe. It took about 2 years but WWE finally started booking him correctly, he went from jobbing to Cena and Hunter to destroying the entire legacy of The Undertaker (which I actually think should've never happened but I can respect why they did it) and squashing Cena to begin one of the more dominant WWE title reigns in recent memory. He truly is one of a kind, a pure legitimate athlete who would easily dismantle 100% of the WWE roster in a shoot style fight. This victory at UFC 200 helps solidify that fact, and hopefully they continue to build on it until they're ready to finally give someone that big payoff. Long live the Beast.