UFC 91 Morning After: Brock Lesnar Is the UFC's Present and Its Future

Brock Lesnar is the UFC heavyweight champion of the world, but he's much more than that. By defeating Randy Couture Saturday night at UFC 91, Lesnar became the UFC's biggest star (his name will draw more pay-per-view buys than anyone else's) and the man who could become the sport's first true household name.

Lesnar really is what EliteXC tried to pretend Kimbo Slice was: the biggest, baddest, toughest dude around. The former NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion and WWE star showed Saturday night that he was just too strong and too powerful for Couture, one of the all-time greats in MMA.

Thanks to his pro wrestling background, Lesnar was already more famous than any UFC fighter at the time that he signed with the UFC. But the exposure he'll get now that he's a champion in a legitimate sport -- ESPN interviews, newspaper profiles, magazine covers -- could make him the star who turns the UFC into a mainstream sports league.

There is, of course, the little matter of Lesnar's next fight, a fight he could very well lose. Lesnar will take on the winner of the Frank Mir-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira matchup at UFC 92, which means he'll either take on the UFC fighter who has already beaten him (Mir) or the UFC fighter who probably has the best set of MMA skills to neutralize Lesnar's power (Nogueira). He might walk into the Octagon as an underdog.

But even if Lesnar's reign as champion ends when he fights the Mir-Nogueira winner, Lesnar is here to stay. He has, by all accounts, a great work ethic, and he understands that he still has a long way to go before he reaches the point where he's a complete, well-rounded MMA fighter.

When he does reach that point, feel sorry for every other UFC heavyweight.

My favorite sights of UFC 91:
1. Randy Couture after the fight: Classy as always, he congratulated Lesnar and thanked the fans as he stood in the Octagon. Then, in a quiet moment backstage, he sat down with his wife, Kim. His face was bloody and bruised and a tooth was loose, but he wore a satisfied look on his face, as if to say he was just glad to be back doing what he loves.

2. Kenny Florian getting his hand raised after beating Joe Stevenson. Florian, who was declared the UFC No. 1 lightweight contender, is a hard worker who carries himself the right way, and it's great to see him rewarded with a title shot -- even though it could be a while before champion B.J. Penn is ready to fight. Florian will be an underdog against Penn, but the way he continues to improve, he's a tough guy to bet against.

3. When the cameras focused on Wanderlei Silva, he did a throat-slash gesture and held up three fingers, his own way of telling the fans he's going to beat Rampage Jackson for the third time when they fight at UFC 92. I'm very much looking forward to that one.

Awards:
Knockout of the Night: Jeremy Stephens, for his absolutely incredible uppercut to knock out Rafael dos Anjos in the third round of their undercard fight.

Submission of the Night: Dustin Hazelett, for the sweet way he went to the ground with Tamdan McCrory, tried an omoplata, and then transitioned it into an arm bar, getting McCrory to tap out in the first round.

Fight of the Night: Aaron Riley and Jorge Gurgel, for their three-round war that saw Riley win by unanimous decision.

For their efforts, those four fighters each got $60,000 bonuses.

Quotes of UFC 91:
"It seems like Lesnar's best chance of winning is if he can hold someone [down] for three rounds like he did to [Heath] Herring. I don't think he can do that to Randy. Plus, he has a giant penis tattooed on his chest, which can't be helpful." -- Mac Danzig, telling Sherdog.com before the fight why he thought Couture was going to win.

"It's surprising to me, shocking that they'd throw a guy in that's only had three fights in with someone like Randy. I kind of feel sorry for the guy." -- Kim Couture, telling Steve Cofield in September that she felt sorry for Lesnar that he'd have to fight her husband.

"I just wanted to make sure I didn't pee my pants." -- Randy Couture, reflecting on his first UFC fight, in 1997.

"That's just a big sonofabitch, that's all there is to it." -- Randy Couture immediately after losing to Lesnar.

"To do what he's done in his fourth fight, I'm still having trouble believing that. This is a different game than when Randy won the title without a lot of experience. These guys now, wow, they're really great athletes and well-rounded." -- UFC president Dana White after the fight.

Musical Notes
Hazelett entered the Octagon to "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. A tremendous choice. Considering that he won his fight and the submission of the night bonus, perhaps such musical selections will catch on. Maybe I'm old, but I consider most of the music played at UFC events to be an assault on my senses.

Around the Web
"Welcome Your New Heavyweight Overlord." -- BloodyElbow.com
"The Brock Lesnar Era Is Upon Us." -- FiveOuncesofPain.com
"Give Lesnar credit for pulling off the win. However, to proclaim that Lesnar is going to change the game of MMA for a long time to come in the UFC Heavyweight division ... arguable." -- FightOpinion.com

Good Call
The UFC showed all nine fights on the pay-per-view telecast, the first time I can recall that every single fight was televised. Granted, that's because there were so many first-round stoppages and because nine fights is fewer than most shows have, but still: It's great that the paying customers at home got to see just as much action as the paying customers at the MGM Grand.

Bad Call
UFC play-by-play man Mike Goldberg saying that the Aaron Riley-Jorge Gurgel fight had been temporarily halted because of "a poke." Uh, no. As the replays then showed, Gurgel was in the rare position of wishing he had been poked in the eye, because what really happened hurt even more than an eye poke -- Riley had kicked him straight in the groin.

Ground Game
We already noted that Jeremy Stephens won the knockout of the night award, but I was just as impressed with the way he withstood Rafael dos Anjos' furious submission attempt late in the first round. I'm still not sure how Stephens managed not to tap out as dos Anjos worked a shoulder lock. "My shoulder -- I thought it was going to pop," Stephens said in the Octagon afterward. "I got heart, baby. That's all I got."

Stock Up
Gabriel Gonzaga, looking impressive again with a first-round TKO win over Josh Hendricks. Yes, it's true that the UFC chose Hendricks because it wanted to give Gonzaga an easy opponent, but then again, that's why the UFC gave Junior "Cigano" dos Santos to Fabricio Werdum. That didn't work out too well. Gonzaga looked bigger and stronger than ever, and with another couple of impressive wins, he might just be a contender to get another heavyweight title shot in late 2009 or early 2010.

Stock Down
Nate Quarry. It's not a surprise that he lost to Demian Maia, but it is a surprise that he played right into Maia's game plan, allowing Maia to take control of the fight on the ground early, and get him into a rear-naked choke before the first round was even half over.

Fight I Want to See Next:
Brock Lesnar vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
A Lesnar-Mir rematch would be interesting, but Lesnar-Nogueira is the best heavyweight fight the UFC can give us. Will Nogueira's superior experience and skill allow him to beat the beast? Or could Lesnar do what even Fedor Emelianenko didn't, and finish Nogueira? I hope we get to find out.