Brock Lesnar is finally feeling comfortable as a mixed martial artist. That's right, the UFC heavyweight champ who's rolled to 5-1 record with zero experience in the cage before 2007, is finding his groove. He's a calmer fighter now who's not afraid to admit his weaknesses and ask for help.
After watching Lesnar take a first round beating from Shane Carwin, it was clear that Lesnar has big holes in his striking game. He got the win at UFC 116 and learne some important lessons.
"I think it’s just a confidence thing,” Lesnar told the Boston Herald. "You bang around in the gym and you’ve got 18, 20 ounce gloves on and you can take a punch in the gym, but up until the Carwin fight . . . there was always some question mark in my mind, I guess."
The former NCAA wrestling champ just isn't completely comfortable with his standup yet. Facing a cardio machine with good striking skills in Cain Velasquez this Saturday, Lesnar knew he had some work to do. He brought fellow UFC heavyweight Pat Barry to his camp in Minnesota and also worked with boxing training Peter Welch again.
"I never learned just the basics in boxing," Lesnar told the Boston Herald. "I wanted to go get a grassroots boxing coach to get my feet underneath me, to try to combine my wrestling positions and mold into a boxing stance, and just lower myself and learn to punch from my feet to my hands. And so he’s been a huge help - just being able to understand the fundamentals of punching."
It's going to come slowly. Even the best athletes in the world can't learn everything in just a few years. Heck, even the top MMA fighters are closing holes and adding to their games each day.
The Lesnar camp is wise to concentrate on certain areas in each matchup. For Frank Mir, it was more drilling on submission defense and ground positioning. Against Carwin, Lesnar worked on his conditioning and a specific submission. For Velasquez, it's boxing defense and being leaner. Lesnar is carrying a little less mass across his shoulders now.
Update: One of Lesnar's pro wrestling buddies, announcer Jim Ross has heard that the champ is already at 265 pounds. Keep in mind, Lesnar also called himself a 270-pound fighter during Countdown to UFC 121.
"... I see this as good for Lesnar fans because already being at the required fighting weight will prevent Brock from having to tweak his diet or training regime prior to the fight in Anaheim. Even though Lesnar will fight lighter than he originally fought in UFC, the former WWE Champion, NCAA All American and National Champion is still beastly strong which could be an key factor in his next encounter in the Octagon. Point is that Lesnar has lost no strength with his lesser weight plus Brock's cardio, one would assume, will be enhanced by not having to carry so much mass in what is expected to be an extremely competitive fight. If Velásquez's camp thinks that Lesnar is going to 'gas' after a round or two then they need to re-evaluate their strategy because that isn't happening. Brock only took two weeks off after defeating then undefeated Shane Carwin and went right back to serious training mode for the Velásquez fight."
It's that kind of flexibility and drive to get better that could make Lesnar tough to beat down the road. Someone better get him soon.
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