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LAS VEGAS ? Brock Lesnar took one last kick to his stomach and crumpled at the side of the cage, unable to fight back when Alistair Overeem pounced. Lesnar had been finished by a 6-foot-5 Dutch kick boxer in the first ...
Submit this storydigg reddit stumble LAS VEGAS ? Brock Lesnar took one last kick to his stomach and crumpled at the side of the cage, unable to fight back when Alistair Overeem pounced.
Lesnar had been finished by a 6-foot-5 Dutch kick boxer in the first round at UFC 141. A few minutes later, the UFC's former heavyweight champion finished his own meteoric mixed martial arts career.
Lesnar retired from the UFC after Overeem stopped him with one vicious kick to the body at 2:26 of the first round in their heavyweight bout Friday night, leaving the UFC heading into 2012 without its biggest pay-per-view star.
Largely thanks to his fame from a career in pro wrestling, the hulking Lesnar (5-3) played a significant role in expanding the UFC's profile and fan base over the past four years. He beat Randy Couture in 2008 to win the heavyweight title, defending it twice before losing the belt to Cain Velasquez last year.
But Lesnar has fought just three times in the past 2 1/2 years while dealing with bouts of a lower-intestinal ailment that nearly killed him. The accumulation of pain and rehabilitation finally undid Lesnar, whose famed strength and stubbornness couldn't overcome diverticulitis.
"I've had a really difficult couple of years with my disease, and I'm going to officially say tonight is the last time," Lesnar said.
Lesnar's return from a 14-month injury absence was a short, one-sided beating. After taking damage from two knee blows early on, he couldn't recover from a kick to the liver from Overeem (36-11), who made a stellar UFC debut despite getting cut near his right eye by a punch from Lesnar.
The 34-year-old Lesnar's announcement stunned fans who already realized he faced a difficult matchup in the UFC's traditional end-of-the-year event in its hometown. The matchup was a classic MMA clash of styles, with Lesnar's brute wrestling contrasting sharply with Overeem's vicious striking.
"I had no idea he would do that, (but) am I surprised? No," UFC President Dana White said. "Brock Lesnar has made a lot of money in his career and has achieved a lot of things. ... He brought a lot of excitement to the heavyweight division. What he accomplished in a short amount of time is amazing, but I get it. It doesn't shock me."
Overeem is three years younger but much more experienced than Lesnar, hurting the former champion at least twice earlier in the round while Lesnar failed in his attempt at a one-legged takedown.
"I promised my wife and my kids if I won this fight, I would get a title shot, and that would be my last fight," Lesnar said. "But if I lost tonight ... you've been great."
Overeem is a champion kick boxer who has fought in multiple promotions over the past decade, winning titles in Dream and Strikeforce with nearly unbeatable striking and size. He joined the UFC in September, finally presenting his formidable skills and intimidating physique to the sport's largest audience.
"My experience in UFC was, it's huge," Overeem said. "I think it's like 100 times bigger than Strikeforce. K-1 (kick boxing) is big, but this is a lot bigger. I was a little bit blown away, still am. I loved every second of it."
White might have given an immediate title shot to Overeem if the timing had been better, but Dos Santos only claimed Velasquez's belt in early November. Overeem welcomed a debut against Lesnar, even guaranteeing a knockout in the first two rounds.
Lesnar hadn't fought since losing his heavyweight belt to Velasquez in October 2010, cancelling a bout against Dos Santos last June in Vancouver after another flare-up of diverticulitis. The former NCAA wrestling champion and fake WWE wrestler kept his unparalleled popularity during his recovery, and Lesnar used the time off to modify both his diet and his standup game, attempting to improve his biggest weakness.
The undercard at the MGM Grand Garden featured two upsets: Lightweight Nate Diaz won a bloody unanimous decision over Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone with superior boxing, and Johny Hendricks stopped welterweight star Jon Fitch with one punch just 12 seconds into their bout.
In the co-main event, Diaz (15-7) backed up his tough talk and rude behavior in a fight that had the sellout crowd on its feet as he battered Cerrone, nearly a 3-to-1 favorite in the MGM Grand sportsbook, for most of the three-round standup fight.
Diaz, the brother of bad-boy welterweight Nick Diaz, picked apart Cerrone's defense for most of the fight, leaving Cerrone bloody after his first loss in seven fights since September 2010.
Cerrone (17-4) knocked down Diaz at least a half-dozen times with kicks and leg-whips, but Cerrone refused to fight Diaz on the ground, repeatedly allowing Diaz to get up.
The unusual strategy showed respect for Diaz's ground skills, but also minimized the importance of those knockdown shots in the eyes of the judges, who scored the bout 30-27 twice and 29-28 once, all for Diaz.
Hendricks (12-1) ascended to elite status with one sneaky left hook that caught Fitch (27-4-1) right on the button, flattening the favored San Jose fighter, whose return from a 10-month absence was stunningly brief. Hendricks, a two-time NCAA champion wrestler at Oklahoma State, completely stunned Fitch, who had lost just one fight since December 2002.
Early in the pay-per-view portion of the card, Swedish light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson (13-1) stopped veteran Vladimir Matyushenko with a perfect left hand midway through the first round.
Unbeaten featherweight Jim Hettes got new fans' attention with a comprehensive thrashing of veteran Nam Phan, repeatedly threatening to finish the fight with strikes and ground work.
UFC 141: Brock Lesnar1 of 8FIRST SLIDEPREVIOUS SLIDENEXT SLIDESHOW Brock Lesnar reacts to his first round TKO loss by Alistair Overeem, of the Netherlands, right after their UFC 141 heavyweight mixed martial arts match, Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, at The MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Lesnar retired after Overeem stopped him with one vicious kick to the body at 2:26 of the first round. (AP Photo/Eric Jamison)
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Brock Lesnar reacts to his first round TKO loss by Alistair Overeem, of the Netherlands, right after their UFC 141 heavyweight mixed martial arts match, Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, at The MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Lesnar retired after Overeem stopped him with one vicious kick to the body at 2:26 of the first round. (AP Photo/Eric Jamison)
LAS VEGAS — Brock Lesnar took one last kick to his stomach and crumpled at the side of the cage, unable to fight back when Alistair Overeem pounced. Lesnar had been finished by a 6-foot-5 Dutch...
LAS VEGAS — Brock Lesnar took one last kick to his stomach and crumpled at the side of the cage, unable to fight back when Alistair Overeem pounced. Lesnar had been finished by a 6-foot-5 Dutch...
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06:33 PM on 01/03/2012 Good move, Mr. Lesnar. You've done well and you put you life and familoy #1. Harmony will continue to pour blessings and courage upon you.
07:14 PM on 01/02/2012 I hope he stays retired, for his own good. The beatings some of these guys take seems far worse than boxing. I'm sure some will have some serious cognitive issues in the near future.
09:11 PM on 01/02/2012 They take a lot more surface damage (cuts, etc.), as well as the occasional horrifying bone break, but the good thing about mma is the lack of a standing count. Boxers accumulate concussions by getting knocked down and stood up over and over. Typically speaking, if a guy gets dropped in mma it either goes to the ground for a while or the fight gets finished. The gloves being smaller reduces the concussive force, too.
01:22 PM on 01/06/2012 Good analysis Pete. The size of the gloves is a huge factor. When boxers get into street fights, a lot of them break their hands. Their terrific punching power is possible in the ring without injury because of the (bigger) gloves.
And a 12 round boxing match can mean taking hundreds of punches. Where as in MMA, clinching is allowed and is part of the game and lessens the number of effective punches that usually land.
06:32 PM on 01/02/2012 For the record the spot he got knee'd twice could have been where he had surgery. That and steroid use he probably has a weak liver. Wouldn't surprise me if the hit was more pain then it should have been.
02:08 AM on 01/02/2012 Holy crap, there is an MMA article on HP and it isn't about a bunch of fighters killing kittens or some other extreme occurrence.
03:17 PM on 01/03/2012 No, but it seems all they ever liked to talk about was Brett Rogers beating his wife. I rarely if ever see results posted here.
12:01 AM on 01/02/2012 We can talk about all the head injuries sustained by football, hockey, players or boxers, but I can't fathom the kind of injuries sustained by these modern-day gladiators. I hope they have a good pension plan and health insurance.
11:54 AM on 01/02/2012 You can't fathom them because they simply aren't as bad as the injuries in the other sports you mentioned. If you care to learn why I would be happy to expand on my answer but my guess is you've already made up your mind.
12:44 PM on 01/02/2012 Not at all. I like MMA, I think there fewer better athletes on the earth. But I'd love to hear your arguments and you're expertise regarding sports medicine.
11:07 PM on 01/01/2012 Brock Lesner has a glass chin. He can use his strength to dominate a smaller man but when he is put in the ring with someone more his size, his lack strength and size advantage reveals his atrocious striking ability.
07:49 PM on 01/02/2012 He was brought up too quickly and never learned how to take a punch. Really was an unfair position for the UFC to have put him in. I guess they wanted to capitalize on his fame as did he. It takes a long time to be able to get used to the feeling of being hit hard. You could see by his reactions when he did take a hit that it scared him. Very normal reaction but most guys would not have fought for a title after 3 fights.
09:00 AM on 01/03/2012 It was body blows that took him down not head shots. The guy had part of his digestive system cut out about a year ago. He was not 100% and should not have been in the octagon. That being said if he was 100% he would have still lost.
09:23 PM on 01/01/2012 Those heavyweights are lucky Lesnar got taken down by a disease or else he would have been the Champion for a while. If he never got Diverticulitis he would have never lost to Valasquez for sure, and he would have easily beaten Dos Santos, Overeem would have been a challenge any way because he is bigger, younger and more experienced than Lesnar. To all those people saying he would have lost even if he was healthy, go watch his 2nd fight against Mir and then the fights between Valasquez and Overeem, his take downs were much slower, and he was gassed a lot faster. Plus that disease took 2 years out of his career, if he had those years, he would have been able to gain more experience and knowledge of the sport.
02:02 AM on 01/02/2012 Overeem isn't bigger or stronger than Brock. Lesnar weighs more and has been bigger and knows how use strength better than Overeem. He just fights stupid.
11:57 AM on 01/02/2012 Lesner would have had a long reign in the UFC of old where you could survive with one dimension but it's a different sport than it used to be. His lack of effective striking put him at risk against the better standup fighters in his division and his lack of any jitz put him at risk against guys like Mir and Nog (yes, he beat Mir the second time but lost by a pretty easy to escape submission the first time they fought). He might have had a slightly longer reign as the top HW but unless he spent a lot of time working on his other skills none of his wrestling ability would have mattered.
07:31 PM on 01/01/2012 He would have lost to Overeem even when completely healthy because his fighting skills were never world class but his athletic ability was and that got him through his other fights. Lesnar did a lot for the UFC in terms of making it more popular.
It'll be interesting to see Overeem face a very experienced fighter his own size with locks and hold experience. Overeem is in peak physical shape and he is huge. He'll be a tough take down.
02:15 PM on 01/01/2012 Brock is retiring because he knows he can't compete with the top echelon in the HW division. He has been exposed as a mediocre fighter in his last couple of fights and a lot of people refuses to admit that. The minute he gets hit he turtles up and thats the end of the fight. No heart and little skills but you would't know by the way the TV commentators talk about him. He is a big draw in some camps because of the way he looks. He also comes across as a rude individual.
06:13 PM on 01/01/2012 Spot on , he has limited skills and cant take a punch , he showed up for this one but had no fire. He layed down and took his paycheck.
01:20 PM on 01/01/2012 I have mixed emotions about him retiring. As a person, I can't stand him. As an athlete, I respect him. However after seeing how Shane Carwin ran all over him in the 1st round of their fight before he punched himself out, seeing how Cain Velasquez handled him and now Overeem stealing his lunch money - I think Brock read the writing on the wall. Look, it was a liver kick that dropped Brock. They happen and they are debilitating! But you get past it and fight on, you don't quit unless there is a lot more going on. With Brock, there was a lot more going on.
11:54 AM on 01/01/2012 UFC boxing is becoming what old school boxing became....FAKE. If Lesnar wanted a 400K payday UFC should have given it to him....without wasting everyone's money on a pay per view match that lasted 23 seconds. The man is ill....so he should have done the right thing and retired before perpetrating the scam. I will never pay for a UFC fight again.
01:58 PM on 01/01/2012 So you don't believe that a fight can be ended by a liver kick from a 256+ muscle bound monster of a fighter like Overreem?? You, my friend, know nothing about fighting if you believe that ;)
10:23 PM on 01/01/2012 Agreed. A focused punch, kick, or knee to the liver can be devastating. If you've never experienced that pain...good for you, and it's best you never do.
08:59 PM on 01/02/2012 kimbo was overrated.. definitely the toughest guy at the family reunion. brock was better. he was an athlete. he was a ncaa wrestling champ, former minnesota viking, and also a champ in the ufc. there is no comparison between the two guy mr.
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