Here Comes the Pain... Again? Brock Rumour Analysis

When I first heard that Alistair Overeem had tested positive for high testosterone levels and would be suspended, one of the first things that came to my mind was how would this have played out if Alistair was caught before the Lesnar fight? How would history have changed? Would Brock have never left the UFC? Would we be talking about JDS vs. Brock instead of Mir?

But looking back at that Overeem/Brock fight, I think history would have stayed the same. Whoever faced him that night would have been victorious. Brock seemed like he didn't want to be there. His heart wasn't in the fighting biz anymore.

I can't question the severity of those body kicks and knees, as they must have hurt coming from a beast like Overeem.  But the lack of effort, going for only one half-assed single leg takedown when that was his best chance of winning, made me question him and his motives.

Since this was his first fight after winning his battle with diverticulitis, I thought he would have brought back his intensity and all or nothing style. But that sure didn't happen. He just sat back throwing little feeling out punches here and there, seemingly waiting for Alistair to put him out of his misery.

Maybe I am extra bitter because I picked him to win that fight and expected him to take Overeem down and maul him. Where was that Brock? The Brock that came out punched Heath Herring in the face and then dove at him Kamikaze style? Or the one who came out and rushed Cain Velazquez and gave it everything he had even though he didn't end up winning.

I suspect that his mind was somewhere trying to catch all the dollars that Vince McMahon was throwing at him to return to the WWE. Since leaving the UFC and returning to the WWE, apparently Brock has come to realize that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. After his brief cameo in the audience at UFC 146, rumours are running rampant that we may see a return to the octagon of the 'Next Big Thing' Brock Lesnar.

I must say, that I am definitely less enthused about his return to the octagon than I was for his debut. And I am definitely more pessimistic about his potential success in the octagon than I was for his first run in the organization. With the injection of talent that the UFC got from Strikeforce, there will be no need to fast track him to a title shot this time around. Which means he should have to go through a few good opponents before even sniffing a title shot. And if his last fight in the octagon was any indication, he has an extremely tough road ahead before getting in smelling distance.

I have to address one more thing about Brock that I first thought was a joke but seems to be catching steam.
People are suggesting that Brock's initial stint in the UFC is worthy of Hall of Fame consideration. In the infamous words of Stone Cold Steve Austin my initial reaction when hearing this was... "WHAT!?!?"

 This is crazy talk. There is a difference between having a good run in the UFC and having a hall of fame career. I understand why people would confuse the two when Brock is mentioned...

1. He's one of the biggest draws in UFC history.
2. He won the title in only 3 fights.
3. Has big wins over quality opponents

These are great accomplishments and I hate to diminish them but I think we have to put them in perspective. Some people were so amazed that a guy coming from the world of professional wrestling could have such success so quickly. Some of these same people are superficially boosting his status in MMA history.

What truly is his legacy? The people that are currently in the hall of fame are either pioneers of the sport or have established a legacy that will live on forever in the UFC. Royce Gracie brought us BJJ, Randy Couture brought us dirty boxing, Chuck Liddel brought us sprawl and brawl, Tito Ortiz revolutionized ground and pound. But what has Brock brought us to establish his legacy? A couple of big fights? Weird chest tattoos? Insulting sponsors (I thought that moment was hilarious, and he was in the right too)?


His performance inside of the octagon, albeit great for someone just crossing over with very little experience, leaves alot to be desired when considering it for being in the hall of fame. The guy only has a 4-3 record in the UFC. His two final losses before leaving the organization were absolutely one-sided ass whuppings. Plus, he still has an unfinished rivalry with Frank Mir that could go either way.

To me putting Brock Lesnar in the UFC Hall of Fame would be like putting a Terrell Davis in the NFL's, Eric Lindros' in the NHL's, Vince Carter in the NBA's, or any other athlete who had immense initial popularity and success but due to injuries, health problems, or just plain sucking (Yes, Vince, I'm looking at you) didn't produce what it takes to warrant hall of fame consideration.

He just doesn't deserve it.

What do you think? Should Brock be in Hall of Fame? Please leave comments below or hit me up on the Twitter @VexedMMA

Invicta Arrives!!!

      This past weekend, I was really pumped to see the first event for the Invicta Fighting Championships, the brand new all women MMA promotion. So as I browsed through one of my favourite MMA communities, /r/MMA on Reddit.com, which I frequently do just to see what fellow keyboard warriors are saying, I came across a post that listed all of the fighters in their respective fights. As I scrolled down to read the comments, one of them jumped out at me. It read,

"You forgot to tell us which ones are hot"

     I never wanted to jump into my computer and cyber punch someone more than I did after reading that comment. 

MMA fans who only take an interest into Women's MMA when there are two ladies who can also double as two Cover Girl models just makes me sick. I can appreciate the beauty of women as thoroughly as the next guy, but can't we all just judge our female mma fighters on what really matters? Talent, technique, and heart? The action in Women's MMA is  fast and furious, there's much less stalling, more scrambling, they engage much quicker, and the women fight with everything they have all the time.  And I love them for it. I can honestly say that women have more exciting fights on a consistent basis than men do.

Invicta didn't disappoint at all. For free on their website,  they gave us a full night of great fights with some talented women fighting with all they had. One of those fights, Kaitlin Young vs. Leslie Smith,  was an instant classic that could hopefully do for Invicta what Bonnar vs. Griffin did for the UFC. 

Although there were a few technical difficulties at the beginning of the night, the event was overall fantastic and I will definitely want to reserve a Saturday for the next event when it is officially announced.

Having said all of that, there are a couple things I noticed that make me wonder if they will be a common aspect of Invicta FC and women's MMA in general...

 1. Four Fighters not making Weight

          Yikes. That's a high number of fighters not to make weight. Fighting not on weight is such a huge advantage that it totally taints a victory. Who knows what the outcome would be if the fighter was forced to lose those extra pounds. Four fights going through this scenario should make making weight priority number one for President Shannon Knapp. I know that weight loss is more difficult for women than it is for men in general. I just wish that all fighters, regardless of gender, would fight at the weight they are most comfortable in and not have to go to extreme measures just for that advantage. I don't have an answer for it other than personal responsibility, but I do hope it doesn't become something that's common for Invicta which could tarnish the results.

2. No Knockouts

           Some great finishes were sprinkled throughout the night with a couple of slick submissions and a couple of vicious ground and pound drubbings, one of them courtesy Randi Miller who had a hard fought debut victory. But there were no clear one punch knock outs. As a matter of fact, I don't recall anybody getting rocked either. This is not necessarily a bad thing but just something that I wonder how common it will be to have knockout-less fight nights in Invicta. Especially since Invicta will be attracting the best female talent, it will be even harder to knock out more skilled opponents.

             
  One thing that I do believe will happen in Women's MMA much faster than Men's is that we will see elite female boxers make the transition over to MMA quicker. This may help any potential knock out droughts in the future. I think the paydays will reach on par with female boxing, if they haven't all ready, much quicker. This will convince those elite boxers to make the plunge. As a striking enthusiasts, I would love that. Seeing a few knockouts like this in an Invicta Octagon would make me jump out of my seat like a mad man.

3. Ring Girls?... Really?

Invicta NEVER marketed itself as some ultra feminist, fight the power type alternative to the male dominated MMA industry. But I was still surprised to see ring girls for an all female card ran by a female President. I guess it was silly of me, but I was half expecting to see a ring boy for the first time.  All this indicates to me in hindsight is President Shannon Knapp is aware of her target market or she just likes to stick to tradition.   Nothing wrong with that.

So let me know what you think about the Invicta FC and it's first event. Any critiques you may have? What will you be looking for next time?  I would love to hear from you.

Overeem and the Tale of Two Injections

     Alright, alright alright, I'll admit it. I was a sucker that tried to defend Overeem all of these years. So you can imagine my disappointment to hear that after the commission finally got their hands on him for a random drug test at a UFC 146 press conference, he failed and failed hard. The guy totally ruined one of the most anticipated fights of the year, but more than that, he destroyed his legacy.

     Everything he has accomplished is a complete sham. The K1 championship, Strikeforce championship, all of those wins in Japan and his status as one of the top heavyweights in the world can all be thrown out of the window. You and I know that this guy has been roiding for his entire heavyweight career.

      Can I confirm this with actual facts and drug tests from the past? Absolutely not, so I may not technically know for sure, and it may also be wrong to accuse him of such. But as the saying goes, "where there's smoke, there's fire",  and we have some epic levels of zero visibility type smoke with this guy.

    With that being said it was with great interest that I listened to his hearing with the Nevada Athletic Commission. I really wanted to know just what he could possibly say to defend himself. And let's just say I wasn't disappointed. I never knew one of these hearings could be full of such comedic gems. Here are some of my favourite quotes. Part one of the hearing is linked closer to the end of this post. The approximate times that the quotes were spoken are at the end of each quote.

Overeem's Licensing  Hearing - Greatest Hits

     Here's Keith Kizer (Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) Executive Director) talking about what he saw Overeem do as Keith was getting ready to administer the random drug test to the fighters who just finished the press conference.

“Mr . Overeem speeded out of the building jumped into a car and took off” 2:14.

     If this was my hearing and I was the dude leading this thing (Skip Avansino Chairman of NSAC), I would have slammed the gavel down (I don't think he had one but I sure would), right then and there after hearing that. Then I would have yelled "you're guilty", gotten up and made it back home just in time to watch midday Price is Right reruns.

    Why in the world would this guy try to skip out of the press conference like that if he wasn't guilty? I have exclusive footage of Overeem fleeing the press conference below. You tell me if he looks guilty or not.

    I have to give a shout out to the commission for giving a guy who looked so obviously guilty a fair chance to represent himself and tell his side of the story.  And his side of the story also provided some comic relief. But to give us assurance that what they were going to say was all going to be true, Overeem's lawyer said this gem...

"As an attorney for over thirty years, the one thing you do is you either tell the truth or you keep your mouth shut”5:35

     Thanks for that reassurance buddy. It doesn't take a body language expert to figure out that this guy would be lying like a... like a.... like a... well... attorney throughout this process. All you need is some decent poker skills and you can see the obvious tell that he gave away just before he says the above quote (There's also another tell at around 6:46. See if you can catch that one too and let me know what you think).

     So, I guess you can blame it on my days watching World Poker Tour but I immediately don't trust anything coming out of his mouth. Nevertheless, Overeem does have an official excuse for trying to dip out of the press conference in a car that goes zero to sixty, swiftly (RIP B.I.G). Here it is below.

“They had heard reports that Process servers were going to attempt to disrupt the press conference by making a public spectacle of serving our client, Alistair"6:56

    So apparently, the scary people at Golden Glory (Alistair's former management who he is in a legal dispute with) were hunting Alistair down and were going to serve him some papers and that's why Overeem had to high-tail it out of there. Sounds a little convenient to me.

    And there are so many things that sounded so silly in this hearing that this article would be far too long for me to analyze all of the eye roll inducing moments (you need to listen to the stuff about the vial). Everything I've mentioned just takes place in part one. There are FOUR other parts (thanks to the fine folks at MMAFightCorner.com for posting it on youtube in its entirety).


Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBijP3Ljp30
Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNgnIDTryPo
Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M63rEJ8rlzk
Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez0CNpGfUJM

Eventually, Overeem admits to "unknowingly" getting injected twice with "anti-inflammatory" medication that just happened to also contain testosterone which ultimately caused the failed test. And in full disclosure, they brought the little vial that Overeem used to inject himself with the banned substance. It was pretty tiny, small enough to be held between your thumb and index finger. But I wouldn't be surprised if the real container he had at his home looked more like this...

So they suspended Overeem for nine months. Do you agree with the decision? Should it be more or less? Let me know in the comments or on twitter @VexedMMA.