By Rick Morris
During my stint as substitute co-host on Pro Wrestling Insider this past Tuesday night on SportsTalkNetwork.com, it was my pleasure to be part of a crossover segment with NAAFS Radio, the premier mixed martial arts authorities anywhere in the media. Head honcho Greg Kalikas and executive producer Jake Digman, who are also collectively the brains behind the unmatched MMA news/analysis site Pro Karate Weekly, appeared at the end of PWI for a discussion of former WWE Undisputed World Champion Brock Lesnar's first big UFC fight (not counting his squashing of a tomato can) against Frank Mir in Las Vegas last night.
While Jake and I were fairly measured in our assessment of Lesnar's chances (forget his "sports entertainment" background completely; he was a dominant NCAA wrestling champion), Greg went out on a big limb and said that he didn't think Lesnar has much of a chance. I asked Greg if Brock would be hurt by being almost completely a grappler and being devoid of any type of martial arts background with the exception of what he had been able to pick up in his recent training; Greg replied that he didn't see that as such a big factor in that wrestling is the important and indispensable foundation of MMA -- but that Brock was probably far too inexperienced at a high level to have a decent chance of victory.
Last night proved what I already knew, never bet against a Greg Kalikas prediction.
Now, Lesnar did look impressive in defeat, dominating the action with quick strikes and agile moves, but ended up submitting to a kneebar only 90 seconds into the action. In so doing, he accomplished what few thought he could: failing to win the fight against an on-the-downside-of-his-career Mir, but winning over skeptical UFC fans as the real deal and somebody poised to make noise in the future. The breakdown of the fight from Greg and Jake on Tuesday night at 9 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com will be fascinating as always.
Oh, and one last note. If I were Bobby Lashley, aiming to follow in Brock's footsteps, I'd be thinking very carefully about how hard that road is going to be after what we saw last night.
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