We want them to fight.
We want them to engage in what can be near-mortal combat, and to either curl up their hands, and swing at a human being's head with malicious force in the desire to knock the other competitor into unconsciousness; or to physically manipulate the opponent's body in such a degree that either pain or fear of permanent injury causes a paid athlete to "tap out," aka "to quit," aka "to forfeit the right to continue competing in this particular contest."
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And then we want them to shake hands, be nice, and say all the politically correct things like "I respect my opponent," and "it was a privilege to fight an athlete of his caliber."
WTF?
When you fight, you fight.
And when you do fight, the object of said battle is to knock out or tap out your opponent before that opponent does it to you.
Pretty simple equation, if you're the one who stands as a bulls eye for the trained bad ass standing across the Octagon from you.
What type of mindset does it take to enter the cage, knowing your opponent has trained feverishly in the art of intricately locking up the human body so that if you don't submit/surrender/quit/tap, your ligaments can rip, your tendons can tear, your bones can snap (remember Frank Mir breaking Tim Sylvia's forearm en route to winning the UFC Title)?
What type of mindset does it take to enter that cage, with the knowledge that you're exposing yourself to such risks, and to have the uninhibited willingness to inflict such pain, suffering, and damage to another human being?
Think about that for a moment.
And then ask yourself, "should I truly expect such a person to be the consummate sportsman?"
It doesn't matter the sport has become a billion dollar enterprise, cleaned up to an extent for the athletic commissions to regulate, or that MMA --or, more specifically-- UFC's version of Mixed Martial Arts has become the fastest growing sport on the globe.
What matters is, at the core, the name of the promotion is still Ultimate FIGHTING Championships.
It's a fight. And in the world of the Ultimate Fight game today, there is no one who has created the level of interest for the sport more than the UFC Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World, Brock Lesnar.
Brock Lesnar is a professional fighter, and he is quite comfortable accepting the risks associated with his choice of vocation. He's even more comfortable protecting himself from those risks, and doing damage to the opponent before the opponent does damage to him. As a matter of fact, Brock enjoys doing damage. He likes to hurt living creatures.
An enthusiastic hunter and ice fisher, Brock achieves a spiritual orgasm in pursuit of, and completion (let's not say "climax" and "orgasm" in the same sentence) of the kill.
He's not a sweet, kind, gentle man who has decided to feed his family by entering a sweet science, a gentleman's brawl, a civilized competition to determine which man has mastered the Octagon.
He's a vicious, brutal, mean spirited competitor whose obsessive drive with pushing himself past his own
glass ceiling of "this is how high Brock Lesnar can go" (even if he's already number one) creates an atmosphere so intense, most people in their right minds just can't hang with it.
Brock Lesnar is not Mike Tyson. He's not out at night, looking for trouble, trying to quench an insatiable need for the adrenal rush of being "on the brink" at all times.
Nor is Brock Lesnar another version of Muhammad Ali. The former Cassius Clay was a calculating, manipulative media sensation who used the power of the television medium to unravel his opponents (most famously the man he taunted as a"big ugly gorilla" Joe Frazier), all in the frame of smiling, telling jokes, and once reinstated, trying to present himself as flamboyant and colorful, but never dangerous.
lesnarBrock Lesnar IS dangerous. Brock Lesnar IS a scary human being. He IS frightening, even to those who know him. But Brock is not going to be a thug. He's not going to go "looking for trouble." Brock has taken his aggression, his competitiveness, and his love for physical dominance and has carefully crafted a multi-million dollar career around it.
So, now let's talk about Brock's actions on Saturday night. First, even the most extreme Anti-Lesnar critic would have to give him his props regarding the manner in which he turned Frank Mir into a freakin' pinata.
Here's Frank Mir, the former UFC Champion and current Interim Champion, in the best shape of his life, with as much motivation to be the Brock Killer as Lesnar had to be the vengeful warrior. Mir, as Brock learned the first time around, is no joke.
But if we're going to use pro wrestling terminology such as "heel" in regards to Brock Lesnar, let's add another term to describe the Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir main event at UFC 100: SQUASH MATCH.
Brock Lesnar didn't just beat Frank Mir bloody. Brock Lesnar humbled Frank Mir. The man everyone booed after one of the most impressive Championship displays of "Ultimate Fighting" bloodied Frank Mir, beat him unmercifully, and left referee Herb Dean no options but to step in and stop the fight.
In order to throw another man such a beating, imagine how ramped up Brock had to be. Imagine having that adrenaline pulsating through your veins, and knowing that everything you believed about yourself being the best in the world was true.
And then you get booed out of the building.
lesnarHey, you want a bad guy, a "heel?" Well, the 265 (+++) pound bad ass who lives in the woods because he truly doesn't like people can play the heel, and he can play it well. Brock Lesnar is not a fictional character, although anyone who knows him will tell you he's one step away from "Texas Chainsaw Massacre."
So, the UFC audience (and, unfortunately, the main title sponsor of the night ... oops) got a taste of a real life heel. Don't like me? Here's two fingers for ya! Want to boo me after that awesome display of "who's da man?" Bring it!
Want to continue booing me? Talk trash? Hey, screw you, screw the sponsor, and while you people are talking about ME later on, I'll be "on top of " my gorgeous 3X Playboy Covergirl wife. And guess what, I won't be thinking about YOU!
No, he was not nice. No, he was not a gentleman. No, he was not the consummate sportsman. He was amped, ramped, and in his kill mode. He wanted to fight Frank Mir again. He wanted to let Frank Mir know that all the trash talking coming from Mir's side about "teaching Brock" and how Brock was a "WWE wrestler" was coming out of Frank's ass.
Brock Lesnar has become the most controversial athlete in the fight game today. Even Floyd Mayweather Jr, whose larger than life "pro wrestling style" interviews created an extraordinary amount of interest for his boxing match with Oscar De La Hoya, and whose family drama was the key to the launch of HBO's "24/7" series, doesn't come across as anything but just "hamming it up" for the cameras now that people have seen Brock's explosive volatility.
Along with being the most controversial athlete in sports today, Brock Lesnar is now the biggest pay per view attraction in the world. From all indications, UFC 100 will sell more pay per views than Wrestlemania XXV. The boxing world can not offer a bout that is going to achieve this level of interest, certainly not in this calendar year.
And it's all because not only is Brock Lesnar truly the Champion of the Ultimate Fight, but because he knows how to be the heel. The bad guy. The one you love to hate.
And, most importantly, the one you pay to see.