Mon Jul 13, 2009 9:06 am EDT
After Saturday's dismantling of Frank Mir at UFC 100, Brock Lesnar seems pretty comfortable at the top of the UFC heavyweight division. Though his career in the UFC has been short, he has beaten two champions, Randy Couture and Mir, in a convincing manner. His size and strength will be a tough obstacle to overcome, but not impossible. Who can do it?
Fedor Emelianenko: If there is anyone who can take out Lesnar, it's the Russian fighter Emelianenko (pictured). He is at the top of the Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound rankings for good reason. With a 30-1 record, he has beaten fighters of every size, including the 7'2" Hong Man Choi and 6'8" former UFC champion Tim Sylvia. In January, he knocked out another former UFC champion, Andrei Arlovski, in the first round. In fact, he hasn't had a fight get past the first round since a win over Mark Coleman in 2006, which lasted until the second round.
Emelianenko's biggest obstacle in beating Lesnar isn't in the cage, it's actually getting him in the cage. He is signed with rival promotion Affliction for a fight with Josh Barnett in August. Fans have wanted Fedor in the UFC for years, but contract negotiations have gone nowhere between the groups. After the fights on Saturday, Dana White said that Emelianenko will be in the UFC.
"This Fedor thing has gone on and on and on," White said in the post-UFC 100 press conference. "Eventually, Fedor's going to be here. I want Fedor. I want him to come to the UFC and everything else.
"This guy (Brock Lesnar) just won the heavyweight title, and we'll end up getting that deal done. And then we'll do Brock vs. Fedor, and it'll be a huge fight."
Assuming that the deal gets made, Emelianenko has the best shot of beating Brock Lesnar.
Shane Carwin: How can you mitigate Lesnar's size advantage? By putting him up against someone that's equally as large. That's Carwin -- all 6'3", 262 lbs. of him. His hands are so big that the 4X gloves he wears to fight need to be cut and taped to fit his hands. He can take punishment and still win, as he had a broken nose when he knocked out Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 96. Carwin is also motivated to beat Lesnar, who Carwin thought was incredibly disrespectful after his win on Saturday.
The fans are why we do this, Brock, this sport is not about fat paychecks and drama. It is about hard work and sacrifice for a shot to do what you did last night. It doesn't matter how much money you make if you can't earn your peers' respect and the respect and love of the greatest sporting fans in the world. Every autograph I give, every hand I shake I am thankful that you give me the opportunity to be a part of your world. This is the greatest sport int he world and most of the athletes in it deserve the love and respect they get and some just dont get it. From leaving the venue all the way to the Airport I have had fans of the sport ask me to take out Brock Lesnar for them.
The biggest knock against Carwin is that he is untested, but he is 11-0. He has much more experience than Lesnar. Carwin is slated to face Cain Velasquez, another exciting up-and-coming heavyweight, at UFC 104 in October. If he makes it through that fight, it wouldn't be surprising to see a matchup between Lesnar and Carwin.
Alistair Overeem: If someone of a similar size won't vex Brock, speed will. A fighter who is a champion kickboxer, can cut angles and move quickly? That might the perfect foil to Brock's wrestling and power. That fighter exists in Dutch kickboxer Alistair Overeem.
Overeem faces two problems in overcoming Lesnar. One, he is the Strikeforce heavyweight champion, is fighting for them on August 15, and contractually obligated to Strikeforce. Two, he needs to stay on his feet to be able to use high kicks, but as Lesnar showed on Saturday, his takedown is quite effective.
Bobby Lashley: Like Lesnar, Lashley is a fellow WWE veteran and collegiate wrestler. Unlike Lesnar, Lashley is taking the long and winding road to the UFC. He also has four wins, but his competition hasn't been nearly as difficult as Lesnar's. Lashley's biggest advantage is that he and Lesnar are the same size, and both have a strong wrestling background. With those two factors equal, the fight has the potential of being an all-out slugfest.
The problem with this fight is that Lashley doesn't want to fight in the UFC until he is ready to be a champion.
"When I go over there I want to be a top, top level guy," Lashley said. "I want talks of me fighting the champ when I get over there. I want them to say this guy's really good."
Lashley still has a while to go and much to learn before he can walk in and get a title shot. He will need to get a few more fights under his belt before we can see if he is truly ready for the champ.
Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.

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Overeem moved from LHW to HW, gaining nearly 30+ lbs. of muscle. He's slowed down substantially. The benefit is that he can use his huge size to work people against the ropes and in the fence, and it makes it much easier for him to takedown opponents. Quickness is far from what Overeem has these days. He's fairly slow in his movements and punching, but he packs huge power. A Lesnar vs. Overeem showdown would come down to Overeem's Muay Thai and strength, and Lesnar probably hurts him bad.
Fedor and Carwin are the best bets.
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So, Maggie, give me your rundown of the top five hvyweights to call and actually challenge Brock from the UFC.
HUmmmmmmm....
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Carwin needs to understand that Lesnar was hated before he ever stepped into an MMA match, and for no good reason other than ignorance (because he was in WWE, he's not a real athlete) and jealousy (he's getting huge money and big fights without having to earn it on the undercards and minor leagues). People continued to question him after his fight with Herring and after beating Couture. Carwin and Velasquez, on the other hand, were pumped up by the media on their way into UFC, and have received nothing but praise ever since entering UFC. Can you see why Brock might not be as sweet on the media and fans as your average fighter?
People were booing him up until the Mir fight and after he won it. I think if Brock could go back and do it again, he might not have gotten in Mir's face after the fight. If he had shaken his hand and thanked him for the fight, the fan reaction might have warmed up, and the whole aftermath of that fight might have changed.
That said, it was an emotional moment, and I can't blame Lesnar for wanting to get in Mir's face after the fight. Leading up the to the fight, Mir embodied Lesnar's critics: arrogant, smug, and 100% wrong.
Patron...You're just mad Lesnar didn't say he was going to do shots of Patron after the fight. That's right, Patron. Cause Cazadores didn't pay him anything.
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You're not impressed because Brock didn't hit a spinning back kick or finish him with a gogoplata. But Brock took pretty much zero damage other than the short hook and flying knee (which he walked right through), he scored on all three of his takedowns, and dominated the ground...dishing out tons of punishment while not getting hit once and not being in even remote danger of a submission.
To say Brock didn't win impressively is absurd.
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"This is the greatest sport in the world and most of the athletes in it deserve the love and respect they get and some just don't get it."
Brock Lesnar gets love and respect? He never got love and respect from about half the fans out there...not even the ones who probably put large amounts of money on him in Vegas. Until people (that includes the fans AND the media) start recognizing him as a serious athlete and deserving champion, he has no reason to suck up to them.
Brock flipping off the crowd was unfortunate, but the people there and the people watching know who he was flipping off. It's not all the fans, it's the critics...people who have never given him any love or respect, even though all he does is go out there and win.
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In the Herring fight, Herring was every bit as bad as Mir was before the fight. Hence, he got ridden and roped. Disrespectful? Sure...But Herring was asking for it. Brock was good to the fans because they gave him love in his hometown.
Brock lets you know what he thinks about you. If you treat him lousy, don't expect him to be a sweetheart to you. That's true no matter how many fights you have or what color belt you wear. You get what you give.
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Why is Cain not on this list and Lashley is?
Although I see Lashley being there someday (he has skills to develop and real fighters to face), Cain is a better challenge for Lesnar right now.
And Maggie, I don't normally do this, but the title to this blog is wrong.
Brock is beatable.
He was beat once by the guy he just beat.
Why count Mir out on beating him again?
It's 1-1 in the scheme of things, so 3 needs to be.
If Mir doesn't get the rubber match, then it's complete b.s on the UFC's part.
I think Frank learned his lesson this time and will approach 3 like he did 1, keep his mouth shut, train hard with some 270 lber laying on top of him, and look for the opening to win.
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What are the odds of him coming to the UFC?
He can take a beating and throw one back.
And he is hungry.
He has seen life in the eyes of the blue collar worker, and I don't think changing tires is in his future again.
Anyone's thoughts on Rogers?
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Mir can wait for his rubber match. If Noguiera beats Couture, he should get a shot first. The winner of Carwin/Velasquez deserves a shot. And...of course...if they can sign Fedor, he should get a shot in short order. I'm not saying a rubber match shouldn't happen, but it can wait until 2010 or 2011. Even if neither of them is the champ at the time, Lesnar/Mir III will do big numbers.
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