Friday, November 13, 2009

GOOD FIGHTERS

Lately everyone, including myself, have thought, “Oh, god, Randy Couture is gonna die.”
But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Couture’s less-than-impressive 16 wins, 8 losses record says very little about the champion. For a fighter that has come back at an age when many fighters would end their careers, Couture has only learned from his losses, and has finally begun to shine.Brock Lesnar on the other hand, has merely had the surprising wins that most over-sized MMA fighters have had early in their career, before succumbing to true martial artists.Brock Lesnar’s fight with Heath Herring was a fluke in the nicest way of the word. In fact, Heath Herring has recently said he would like a rematch with Lesnar. What happened in that fight was a lucky punch Herring never saw coming, that in turn, hurt Herring for the rest of the “beating.” Herring never attempted anything in that fight other than defending himself.Now for those of you who still doubt me, I want to point out that Herring, while being a good fighter, never reached the status of the “Elite”; characterized by fighters such as Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, Fedor Emelianenko, and Mirko “Crocop” Filipovic, in the late Pride FC organization.Herring’s greatest attribute and road to fame comes from his experience fighting these “Elite” fighters.The commentators were right; we didn’t know what Lesnar was going to do because we hadn’t seen him fight before. But now that we have, it should be a fairly straightforward fight for Randy Couture.
It’s not going be easy, just like Gabriel Gonzaga wasn’t easy or Tim Sylvia wasn’t easy. Those two fighters combined have the physical attributes and much more technical skill than Lesnar, yet they lost to “The Natural.”So, is Lesnar a different type of monster? No, he’s the same as Mark Coleman, Mark Hunt, Kevin Randleman, and any other fighter whose physique would make a mere mortal tremble with fear at the thought of stepping in the ring with them.The truth is, this is an epic match, rarely seen since Bas Rutten, a very skilled striker, fought Kevin Randleman, a monster of a wrestler. These epic fights are usually what the great Fedor is known for. I equate Bas with Couture because Bas was the veteran champ against Randleman just like Couture is the veteran champ against Lesnar.