I like to visualize, a lot.

Am I right on the money? No, most of the time.

But it's still a pretty fun exercise so here is the way I see Lesnar vs Velásquez going down.

Here is my simulation of the fight:

Rd.1: Cain and Brock stand in the center of the Octagon, the feeling out process starts. At 4:30 Brock throws a right straight and shoots for the TD. He pushes Cain against the fence. After a brief struggle Brock takes Cain down. Brock is still holding on to Cain's legs as he pushes Brock's head down with his left hand and is supporting himself with his right. He frees one leg and then jumps out of the hold completely. It's 4:10. Cain rushes Brock as soon as he stands with a big flurry but Brock manages to push along the cage and escape alongside the octagon. Cain chases and at 3:55 Brock shoots in for a TD but Cain Sprawls. Cain tries to take Brock's back but Brock grabs a hold of Cain's ankle and holds on throwing Cain on his ass. Cain pulls free and stands back up. He rushes Brock again as he tries to stand up. Brock grabs a hold of Cain and pushes him up against the cage. They wrestle along the fence with Brock in dominant position the whole time. At 1:00 Cain is able to get a hold of Brock's left leg. HE tries to trip him but with no success. He forces Brock to let go of him and the reset in the middle of the octagon. Cain does something crazy like a flying knee and misses. They both recover and reset. Cain rushes Brock again and lands a few clean shots. Brock's face is pretty red and Cain's legs are beat up as they clinch till the round ends.

10-9 Lesnar

Rd. 2: Cain runs straight at Brock and throws his hands like there is no tomorrow. Brock shoots in after taking some shots. Cain sprawls and stands back up. As Brock is getting up Cain rushes him, pushing against the cage in a crouch as he covers his face. Cain is relentless with his strikes in this position. Brock explodes out with punches that Cain is able to dodge but he still takes a clean shot. Brock starts pressuring Cain with punches which Cain dodges. In a flurry Cain grabs onto Brock's waist and tries to trip. Brock rolls out of the position and they both stand up. The y trade jabs for a bit. Every time Cain Flurries Brock backs off and evades. Every time Brock tries to throw a strike Cain does the Same. Cain pressures Brock again with strikes and winds up getting taken down into half guard. Unable to escape that both lay there for the last minute or so of the round,

10-9 Velásquez

Rd. 3: Cain rushes again and fires on all cylinders, Brock's fights through and clinches up with Cain. Unlike the first round Cain is able to never stop working and switches the position against Brock. Cain throws lots of Body punches in the clinch. They seperate but Cain shoots in and Grabs Brock's right leg. They start moving toward the cage but Cain drops and is able to thrown Brock over him. He is able to get Brock's back and starts raining down punches. Brock works through the flurry but Cain uses another momentum shifting roll to sit Brock down again. Cain is absolutely relentless with his strikes, knees to the body, shots to the head. The Ref steps in as he believes that Brock isn't able to defend himself.

Velásquez TKO Rd. 3

But it will be a controversial stoppage. Brock will get up and protest.

Many will disagree and please let me know how wrong or crazy I am, it will help me out a bunch :)

So the greatest Hw of all time lost.

And it's good.

Why are we as a community enthralled with him?

It's not because of the people he's beaten.

It's not because of some mystique that was built around him.

It also wasn't all of the hype that's followed his storied career.

It's because of who he is as a person.

For all of his incredible talents and his ability to dazzle a crowd with the indescribable fury that is his fighting style, the thing that really determines the greatness of a particular fighter isn't what happens in the ring, it's what happens outside of it.

For all of our talk about how things outside of the ring (or rink, or field, or oval office) should stay outside, the events of a star athlete or politician's personal life inevitably dictate the narrative of their fight. There is an eternal dichotomy between the "good guy" and the "bad guy" in all forms of sport. Even during the simplest of games people will create their own story to act as the backbone of what they observe. Man cannot simply look at an event without projecting their wants and needs onto the experience.

With this in mind we need to take a look at Fedor the man.

At least the man that this fan believes he is.

Continue reading this post »