UFC Gains Another Tito Ortiz - UPDATED

Oh Brock.

I was in attendance last night at UFC 87, the crowd was into it, the fights were great. Brock Lesnar came into his fight with do or die attitude, especially considering the circumstances and what the UFC has riding on him. Brock needed to prove he was for real in the realm of MMA and gain the respect of the MMA fans and "purists" after his loss in February, due to a rookie mistake. Although big and powerful, during his fight, he showed that he can control anyone with his wresting skills...but what to do when he had control proved that he is still inexperienced and needs to be humble to build his respect in the MMA world. He was able to throw some rabbit punches and knees with the direction from his corner men, but unable to show any attempt at submissions or using his power to control him in the mount and work on ground and pound.

This is not the WWE, not sports entertainment. Yes, Brock is a great guy, very marketable and entertaining to watch. There were times during the fight when 15 thousand of us were chanting his name and he was encouraging us, which I don't have a problem with. My problem lied when the cockiness side came out during the fight and afterwards, showing no respect for his veteran opponent. Laughing and pointing at Herring (who looked like he had an allergic bee sting on half of his face from a Brock punch) during breaks in the action and when the 3rd round ended, and it was obvious he would get the decision, Brock started to do the bull dance around the ring, air lassoing a beaten down Heath Herring and...gesturing. Even though Herring said some trash talk about Brock in interviews leading up to the fight, that's a part of the business. Everyone is going to talk down about their opponent before hand, because if you give your opponent credit in a way that makes you sound like there's a chance that he might get a victory over you, you've lost before you've started.

After it was official, Joe Rogan comes in the ring for an interview with UFC's latest heavyweight, with a MMA record of 2 wins and 1 loss. Luckily, Brock was in his hometown when he took the mic and said "Can you see me now?!", which of course received a huge (cheap)pop for the crowd. If it were in any other MMA host city, he would have been booed out of the building, much like his last fight in Vegas, but then again Joe Rogan said in a radio interview on Friday that, "Vegas is full of a bunch of drunken idiots that will boo anything". Then again, to have Lesnar save face and create the impression that he is over with the MMA fans, it was smart of Dana to have this fight in Minneapolis.

In the main event, John Fitch went 5 rounds with George St. Pierre, who won by decision as well. I felt that "GSP" redeemed the UFC and the sport by showing classiness and respect for Fitch after the fight by shaking his hand, hugging/kneeling with him on the ground in the center of the octagon and telling him that he was a worthy opponent. Which is what this sport is going to need in order to change the MMA haters, who think it is nothing more than human dog fighting(but yet boxing is ok), into appreciators.

"The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Tito Ortiz got away with his cocky attitude in the UFC, which MMA fans loved to hate(Dana White hated, but made a lot of money), because he had established himself as a legit contender within MMA (current record is 15-6-1) and even though fans didn't like his attitude, they respected him...and that took awhile. For an "outsider" to come in and declare Marshall Law so to speak, that's not a way to gain MMA fan support.

I'm not a Brock hater. I have watched Brock in college, WWE, NFL and now MMA. I'm a fan, there's no doubt. He has all the right tools to become a legend in this sport. But he has a lot of growing, maturing and winning to do before he can become the "Midwest Bad Boy".

Up next for Brock will probably be Cheick Kongo, who won via TKO last night after loosing previously to the man Brock just beat, Heath Herring.


UPDATE:
First off, I don't understand why the peanut gallery has to send me nasty emails saying I know nothing about MMA and that Lesnar earned the win, instead of using the comment board. Secondly, I did not say that Lesnar didn't deserve to win. I have been a fan of MMA since Royce Gracie entered the octagon and ruled the tournaments(yes, there was a time when they'd fight 3 times a night) in the early 90's. Brock absolutely dominated and destroyed Herring, but I and others saw room for improvement as I'm sure he did. In my original assessment, I was simply pointing out the character issues with some of the dominate fighters and the impressions they leave on MMA fans, the sport and those outside who want to shut it down. If you want to see MMA earn respect and legitimacy with the outside world, then sportsmanship with the fighters is a great starting point.

Here's what good 'ol JR thought.