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Lesnar vs. Kim
Brock
Lesnar (Pictures) vs. Min Soo Kim (Pictures)
Upon completing a tremendous collegiate wrestling career, Brock Lesnar (Pictures) was left wondering what would become of his future. Lesnar's success in collegiate folkstyle wrestling was no guarantee of success in the world of freestyle or Greco Roman wrestling, but that appeared to be the only logical route for Lesnar to take.
That was until Vince McMahon of the WWE came a knocking with the kind of promises that any fresh-faced college graduate would jump at. Seemingly overnight, Lesnar went from being an elite student athlete to being McMahon's latest gravy train. Although Lesnar's decision brought with it a great financial windfall, it would ultimately remind him why he became an athlete in the first place.
Immersed in a world where athletic ability takes a backseat to charisma and crowd reactions, Lesnar found himself disillusioned with a career that bottled up his inner competitor. Lesnar's first attempt at rediscovering the athlete he once was failed miserably as he failed to catch on with the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL.
With father time slowly but surely claiming his athletic prime, Lesnar, now 29, will attempt to break into a sport where the cost of failure is a fair bit heavier than a bruised ego. The man looking to spoil Lesnar's MMA debut is another decorated amateur athlete and all around massive human being.
A Korean judo silver medalist in the 100-kg division at the 1996 Olympic games, 32-year-old Min Soo "Mr. Shark" Kim has found it difficult to duplicate that same level of success in MMA. Currently sporting a less than impressive 2-5 record, Kim's primary weakness is the fact that he has a chin better suited to competing in the Professional Pillow Fight circuit than MMA, as evidenced by his four knockout losses.
You'd think a man who stands over six-feet tall, tips the scales at 250-lbs. or so and has an Olympic silver medal in judo would be able to take a fight to the ground, but Kim is living proof that deductive reasoning doesn't apply to MMA. Ironically, Kim's only success in MMA thus far has come against converted pro wrestlers, namely Sean O'Haire and Yoshihisa Yamamoto (Pictures).
While Kim will look to continue that trend, Lesnar will look to let out years worth of pent up aggression in one fell swoop on the Korean. Admittedly, there is no reason to believe that Lesnar will be able to do anything in MMA other than execute a takedown, but we do know that Kim is nothing more than an oversized tee ball being set up for Lesnar to knock out of the park.
Much as it pains me to say it, this fight might be a flashback to the early days of the UFC where being able to score a takedown meant victory more often than not. There is simply no way the K-1/EliteXC partnership would risk losing their newest poster boy this early in the game and matching Lesnar up with Kim is in line with that train of thought.
It won't be terribly impressive but Lesnar will come out and plant Kim on the canvas time and time again as he gradually saps the Korean of any will to compete. From there, it won't be long before Lesnar walks away with a TKO victory over an exhausted Kim. Look for Lesnar to seal the deal late in the second round and an avalanche of vindicated pro wrestling fans to swarm Sherdog soon afterwards.
Upon completing a tremendous collegiate wrestling career, Brock Lesnar (Pictures) was left wondering what would become of his future. Lesnar's success in collegiate folkstyle wrestling was no guarantee of success in the world of freestyle or Greco Roman wrestling, but that appeared to be the only logical route for Lesnar to take.
That was until Vince McMahon of the WWE came a knocking with the kind of promises that any fresh-faced college graduate would jump at. Seemingly overnight, Lesnar went from being an elite student athlete to being McMahon's latest gravy train. Although Lesnar's decision brought with it a great financial windfall, it would ultimately remind him why he became an athlete in the first place.
Immersed in a world where athletic ability takes a backseat to charisma and crowd reactions, Lesnar found himself disillusioned with a career that bottled up his inner competitor. Lesnar's first attempt at rediscovering the athlete he once was failed miserably as he failed to catch on with the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL.
With father time slowly but surely claiming his athletic prime, Lesnar, now 29, will attempt to break into a sport where the cost of failure is a fair bit heavier than a bruised ego. The man looking to spoil Lesnar's MMA debut is another decorated amateur athlete and all around massive human being.
A Korean judo silver medalist in the 100-kg division at the 1996 Olympic games, 32-year-old Min Soo "Mr. Shark" Kim has found it difficult to duplicate that same level of success in MMA. Currently sporting a less than impressive 2-5 record, Kim's primary weakness is the fact that he has a chin better suited to competing in the Professional Pillow Fight circuit than MMA, as evidenced by his four knockout losses.
You'd think a man who stands over six-feet tall, tips the scales at 250-lbs. or so and has an Olympic silver medal in judo would be able to take a fight to the ground, but Kim is living proof that deductive reasoning doesn't apply to MMA. Ironically, Kim's only success in MMA thus far has come against converted pro wrestlers, namely Sean O'Haire and Yoshihisa Yamamoto (Pictures).
While Kim will look to continue that trend, Lesnar will look to let out years worth of pent up aggression in one fell swoop on the Korean. Admittedly, there is no reason to believe that Lesnar will be able to do anything in MMA other than execute a takedown, but we do know that Kim is nothing more than an oversized tee ball being set up for Lesnar to knock out of the park.
Much as it pains me to say it, this fight might be a flashback to the early days of the UFC where being able to score a takedown meant victory more often than not. There is simply no way the K-1/EliteXC partnership would risk losing their newest poster boy this early in the game and matching Lesnar up with Kim is in line with that train of thought.
It won't be terribly impressive but Lesnar will come out and plant Kim on the canvas time and time again as he gradually saps the Korean of any will to compete. From there, it won't be long before Lesnar walks away with a TKO victory over an exhausted Kim. Look for Lesnar to seal the deal late in the second round and an avalanche of vindicated pro wrestling fans to swarm Sherdog soon afterwards.
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