UFC 91: A Superstar is Born?
November 16, 2008
In what has the makings of being remembered as a monumental night for MMA, Brock Lesnar defeated Randy Couture to become the UFC Heavyweight Champion last night in Las Vegas. While the pay-per-view results aren’t in, the win almost certainly establishes Lesnar as the biggest draw in MMA and the face of the UFC. The company couldn’t have asked for a better result from a fight that lasted long enough to deliver and saw its “next big thing” finish MMA’s living legend in impressive fashion.
Lesnar has all the tools necessary to become the sport’s first true superstar. The sport has seen its share of “rockstars,” the largest being Chuck Liddell, but never a true breakout superstar with the potential to capture the imagination of popular culture. The Iceman made his name as something of a silent assassin, a dominating knockout artist during a two-year run in the course of MMA’s boom, but doesn’t posses the showmanship, engaging personality, and interesting biography of Lesnar. As large as Liddell was/is, Lesnar has the potential be bigger, no pun intended.
No one else in the UFC possesses the combination of charisma, physical appearance and abilities that Lesnar does. The UFC now has a larger than life character to build around with the potential to be a dominant and imposing force in the heavyweight division for years to come. However, those great expectations are tempered by the fact that this superstar in the making has only four professional fights and a surly temperament that adds to his mystique but that may buck at the media and travel demands required to truly become the face of MMA.
Another interesting storyline to watch in the aftermath of what should turn out to be one of the UFC’s biggest pay-per-view events of all time is the reaction of Vince McMahon’s WWE. The company has reportedly entertained thoughts of MMA in the past and publicly recognizes the UFC as its greatest competition on pay-per-view. Zach Arnold of FightOpinion.com pointed out a barb thrown at the UFC on a news report on Lesnar’s title win on WWE.com.
Could the combination of seeing its competition ride a star it created while now publicly professing to be modeling its business around WWE be enough to spur the company into MMA? Now that would be a truly monumental event.
