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Lesnar looks legit, but you have to wonder

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Mark Kriegel

Mark Kriegel is the national columnist for FOXSports.com. He is the author of two New York Times best sellers, Namath: A Biography and Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich, which Sports Illustrated called "the best sports biography of the year."

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Updated Jul 9, 2009 2:02 PM ET
     
 

LAS VEGAS

From Joe Louis to Mike Tyson, from Steve "Mongo" McMichael to Lawrence Taylor, professional wrestling has been an endeavor of last resort for America's sports celebrities. In his state of aged disrepair, an athlete learns that the last commodity he can pimp is his prominence. But by the time he's been cast as a face or heel, he has less game than name. Then there's Brock Lesnar, the WWE's three-time champion, who left the absurdist opera of fantasy violence for the real thing. On Saturday night at Mandalay Bay, in the main event on the UFC's centennial show, Lesnar will again fight Frank Mir, this time to defend his heavyweight title. Lesnar still looks like a pro wrestler. It's a lucrative aesthetic that's accelerated his meteoric rise through the sport. At 6-foot-3, 265 pounds with the requisite body art (the sword tattooed to his chest is a nice touch), his features are almost disconcertingly Nordic: a tuft of blonde hair and eyebrows that are all but invisible. Still, what really distinguishes Lesnar is sheer bulk. The dimensions of his musculature — chest, traps, neck and arms — suggest a genetic experiment that crossed a super hero with a beast of burden. It's easy to see why Lesnar was such a hit in the WWE. But it's even easier to envision what the UFC covets in him. He could be more than the heavyweight champ of a lackluster division. After a hundred shows, he could be the UFC's first legitimate crossover star. "This isn't my first time on the top of the mountain," he said Wednesday afternoon. "I'm a three-time WWE champion. I was rammed down a lot of people's throats. I was on television every single week." In wrestling parlance, he doesn't have to "get over" with the audience. He already has. The question is, with just four bouts on his MMA resume — including a previous loss to Mir — can he fight? "I worked for the circus," he says of his former vocation. "I was already in that business . . . I'm here to fight."
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Pro wrestlers don't have it easy. In fact, based on the scandalous statistics regarding their premature deaths, I'd argue that theirs is the most hazardous form of entertainment. But Lesnar could've made a lot of money for a lot of years with the WWE. Going to the UFC while he's still in his prime goes against more than the historic trend. It's a big risk. And he's to be commended for taking it. "I'm not trying to be something I'm not like when I was a pro wrestler," he said. "I was living two, three, sometimes four different lives. I'm not soul-searching every day. I found out who I am. I'm a fighter, and I'm happy with that." Still, you can't help but wonder. The other day, Lesnar stormed out of a yet another promotional interview. He'd been watching a replay loop of his loss to Mir 17 months ago. "I just got done working out," he said. "I didn't want to be there. I wanted to go home. I'm a sore loser . . .To watch it over and over again, was frustrating." So he removed his mic, stormed off and punched a door on his way out. Nothing unusual -- except that the door came off its hinges. Now Lesnar — a former NCAA wrestling champion — is a very strong guy, with very heavy hands. No less an authority than Randy Couture would attest to that fact. And while there's been no suggestion that the suddenly unhinged door was a publicity stunt, it looked like something right out of a WWE storyline. In other words, it makes you wonder.
If it was bit of fakery — not likely — then Lesnar is suspect. If not, then he has less than optimal control of his emotions. That was the key, he said Wednesday, managing his temper, not allowing the fight to get personal. "I don't want to go into this fight with any more emotions than necessary," he said. "I have to stay calm and do what I've trained to do." He says he is "more patient" now. "It's just another fight," he said. The loss doesn't bother him. "I feel less pressure now," he said, feigning obliviousness to his status as the betting favorite and the bigger man. "I don't feel any pressure that Frank has a win over me." I don't believe any of that. Their first fight saw Lesnar come out strong, and perhaps overly aggressive, before Mir forced him to tap out with a knee bar at 1:30 of the first round. Couture, the 46-year-old legend whom Lesnar knocked out last November, thinks it will go differently this time: "It's going to be harder for Frank to get him out of position, to get him excited, to get him where he needs to get him to submit him again, which leaves him standing up with a guy that size. That's not a very good proposition." That's Couture's way of saying that the intervening months have taught Lesnar to think and act like a fighter. But I keep thinking about that door. Was it something to bust down? Or something to pass through, a portal separating the martial artist from the guy who worked for the circus?

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