Youth & Power Overcome Knowledge & Experience and..........Suddenly ..THE UFC HAS A NEW HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION

Raw power and sheer athleticism overcame a wealth of MMA experience and knowledge last Saturday evening, when Big Brock Lesnar TKO'd Randy "The Natural" Couture to become the New UFC Heavyweight Champion. The big question coming into the fight was if a powerful, but very inexperienced fighter could defeat a much older, but also much wiser and vastly more experienced cage warrior ........... who was coming off a long lay off. The answer was a resounding YES .................... this time.

The first round was fairly even, with neither man particularly effective on their feet. Big Brock used his massive size and incongruous speed to score a couple of take downs, but each time The Natural easily scrambled out from under his 275 pound nemesis. Couture also managed to muster the power of his 220 pound frame and pin the wrestling monster to the cage and try a little of his famed "dirty boxing", but Lesnar would manage to escape before any real damage was done.

As the second round began, the Minnesota Monster began to unload his strikes and scored with a few knees and elbows. Randy responded with quick, accurate punches which sliced open the big man's brow. Lesnar checked the cut and was obviously distressed by the bleeding. For a moment it looked like he might be one of those beginners who lose focus at the sight of their of their own flowing claret, but Big Brock answered back with a big right hand. Randy almost ducked out of the way and would have against a normal sized fist, but the Lesnar hamhock hand grazed Randy just behind his ear. Unfortunately for the beloved Natural, Brock Lesnar appears to have Foreman - esque power. Former heavyweight Boxing champion Big George Foreman often floored his foes with glancing blows ............. and Big Brock did the same thing. The big wrestler immediately dropped on his fallen foe and began to rain down a plethora of rather sloppy hammer fists on Randy's noggin. These hammer fist might have been amateurish, but they were the size of canned hams and the weight of Brock's massive arms alone could break bricks, so after Couture couldn't answer about thirty of these hamhok hammers, the referee was forced to halt the contest and award Brock Lesnar the win and the heavyweight strap.

So the UFC has a new Heavyweight Champion and Randy Couture is weighing his future options. Of course Lesnar now has a big target on his back, which always arrives with a title belt. His next outing will be against the winner of the Antonio Nogueria - Frank Mir matchup on December 27th. Both of these men are at the top of their game. Nogueria is the Interim Heavyweight Champion, a quasi title that he acquired while Couture and the UFC were in contract disputes and Mir is a former Heavyweight champion who didn't lose his title in the ring, but instead to car crashing into his motor cycle. Mir is finally fully recovered from his accident injuries and his last victory is the lone loss on Lesnar's record. Both Mir and Nogueria are jujitsu masters and will present a whole different set of problems for Lesnar. He is very aware of this though as he was pounding on Mir, when the fallen ex-champ suddenly saw an ankle in front of him, tripped up the big man and secured a match ending heel hook. For his part, Mir says that the match felt like getting run over by a truck ............ until he saw that ankle. Big Brock had better spend the next few month working hard at submission defense as Nogueria's jujitsu is even higher level than Mir's. Just today word arrived that Randy Couture considers that at age 45 he is far from done. That he just got caught with a big punch Saturday and that he will be ready to go again soon. In fact there are rumors of a possible Couture vs. "The Iceman" Chuck Liddell match, at heavyweight and perhaps as soon as February.

Many post fight comments have voiced the opinion that a former professional exhibition wrestler winning the UFC heavyweight strap in his fourth MMA match, even though the guy was also an NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion, has somehow cheapened the value of the title. Probaly this reaction is just a knee jerk reflex because of the love and admiration that everyone in and near MMA has for Randy Couture, but these folk would do good to remember that on Dec. 21st, 1997, much admired and vastly well thought off, long time kick boxing champion Maurice Smith, lost his UFC heavyweight title to an upstart wrestler who was participating in only his fourth MMA match ................ and that wrestler was on Randy Couture. Couture defeated the experienced champion with so little MMA experience that Joel Gold of "Full Contact Fighter" magazine dubbed him "The Natural".

The entire event featured a stampede of stoppages. Boston's Kenny Florian controlled the stand up in his first round with Joe "Daddy" Stevenson, quickly recovered from a Stevenson take down in the second, scored his own take down and submitted "Daddy" with a picture perfect rear naked choke, winning himself another shot at the lightweight title. Two time All American wrestler Josh Hendricks recieved a rude introduction to the UFC when Gabe Gonzaga knocked him out with a straight right hand at one minute and one second of their first round. Nate "The Rock" Quarry didn't fair much better when submission wizard Demian Maia slapped on a rear naked choke at 2:13 of their first round, keeping the young Brazilian undefeated. Dustin "McLovin'" Hazelett continued his winning streak by catching Tamden "Barn Cat" McCrory in an arm bar at 3:59 of their first round. Those two guys definitely have the best new fight names out there.

It was yet another great evening of entertainment provided by the UFC. Thankfully this original MMA promotion is staying strong while other MMA promotions stumble and dissapear around them.

Good Night - Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"