The Doggy Bag: Shame and Fame Edition

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I'm a big pro-wrestling fan so I loved seeing Brock Lesnar come back to WWE. During Wrestlemania, some friends asked me how good of an MMA fighter Lesnar really was in the UFC. I found it really hard to answer because sometimes he seemed like a great heavyweight, but looked like a joke against the two best heavyweights he faced. How "great" would you say Brock Lesnar was? Is he a top-10 heavyweight all-time? If there was an MMA Hall of Fame, would he deserve to be in? -- Keith from Anchorage

Tristen Critchfield, associate editor: Unfortunately for Lesnar, his last two fights before retirement will overshadow much of what he accomplished during his brief MMA career. Losses to Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem are nothing to be ashamed of, but the fact that Lesnar never appeared to make peace with getting hit tarnishes his image in the eyes of many fans -- especially those who resented a crossover from the sports entertainment realm receiving such a big push upon his arrival in the UFC.

From Day One, Lesnar was never given an easy fight in the world’s largest MMA promotion. Many heavyweights with a lot more fights and years under their belts would love to have a resume that includes victories over the likes of Heath Herring, Randy Couture, Frank Mir and Shane Carwin, as well as a UFC title.

That said, Lesnar simply does not have the longevity necessary to be considered one of the 10 best fighters to ever compete in the division. We will never know for sure how much of Lesnar’s potential was robbed by his life-threatening battle with diverticulitis, but the man deserves commendation for twice coming back from the illness. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that fighters like Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Couture have credentials that far surpass Lesnar’s, and that doesn’t even include guys like Velasquez and dos Santos, both of whom figure to add plenty more signature victories to their records before all is said and done. At best, Lesnar slides into the “Others Receiving Votes” category of any unofficial Top 10 heavyweight poll.

While a UFC Hall of Fame does exist, its membership is currently limited to eight men: Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, Couture, Mark Coleman, Chuck Liddell, Charles “Mask” Lewis and Matt Hughes. There appears to be no set criteria for induction, but the same principle I mentioned above applies when it comes to Lesnar’s enshrinement possibilities -- there are just too many worthy candidates who are not in for him to merit consideration at the moment. If the UFC ever decides to build a Hall of Fame facility and adds a special wing for impact on the sport, I could see Lesnar making it then. As a pay-per-view draw, no one was better, and UFC 100 became such a mainstream event in large part because of Lesnar’s presence.

Lesnar will be forever hated in some circles, but if transitioning from the WWE to MMA were easy, then more people would do it. Just ask Bobby Lashley how his road to cage fighting superstardom is going. Lesnar went from professional wrestling to an NFL training camp to a UFC Octagon. There is no question that, along with being a polarizing figure, Lesnar is an amazing athlete. While he deserves your respect, he simply didn’t stick around long enough to warrant “All-Time Great” status.

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