Brock Lesnar is officially fighting at UFC 200 and fans and fighters alike have had their opinions about “The Beasts “ comeback. During a UFC 200 promo video package, Brock Lesnar makes an appearance for a short second and the cat came out of the bag. Brock Lesnar is back again and he is fighting at UFC 200. The biggest event in UFC history and Lesnar’s return made sure that this night will be historical.
To be honest, this threw me off a bit considering many fans believed he was done for. But who knew Dana White had one more bullet put in his loaded gun to make sure UFC 200 was his crown jewel. He sure loaded it big all right. But lets look at it this way, how do the fighters and fans feel about “The Beast Incarnate” stepping in the octagon one more time? Do they feel he’s capable of doing it or does he fall flat against Mark Hunt and never fight again? From observing the vast Twitter and Facebook reactions, it’s safe to say there is a mixed reaction to Lesnar’s return as well as the fight he is getting into in general. Lets see what fans as well as some fighters had to say.
Through the social media reactions from fans, majority would say that they are pretty skeptical about him making a comeback after five years away.
DJ Bellman on Facebook posted that, “This feels like a lopsided match. Mark hunt is a veteran. Lesnar is an actor who had a couple of okay real fights. Anxious to see how this plays out (Bellman).”
Another person tried to say that if Lesnar loses, this could affect his draw as a dominant WWE wrestler that he plays as on WWE programming.
Tommy Cash posted, “This is going to be bada**. Lesnar still a beast! I can’t believe WWE is going to allow this. Guy wins, he is legit over as a guy who can’t be beat. If he loses, that conqueror gimmick is going to lose its drawing power (Cash).”
Then there are the positive receptions such as Blake Evan See who said, “ Brock Lesnar all day finally UFC fun to watch again (See).”
Matt McGrath had a very interesting point considering the business standpoint of it when he posted, “From a business standpoint cross promotion is genius. If either fan doesn’t watch the other show they will watch all of it now. Brock on UFC PPV’s than on Monday night raw the following week, sounds like the old days with Severn and Shamrock (McGrath).”
If anything we are seeing from the fans, there is a majority of those who are more than willing to pay the PPV price for UFC 200 to see the former champ and then there are the fans who believe that Lesnar fighting again is a waste of time for him and should stick to his WWE plans.
Now when it comes to the fighters, there is a pretty partisan agreement that his presence at the event is something to behold no matter whom he is fighting and even those fighting on the card will see their purse go up at UFC 200.
Fighters such as Jon Jones, who is headlining the event, tweeted out, “Well if you want me to be honest I’m wondering how many millions that added to my purse. #RedPantynight.” Definitely paying homage to Conor Mcgregor of course for his comments at a press conference back in January of this year.
Some fighters decided to question if he was able to pass the drug tests because of past accusations of drug abuse in the WWE. Roy Nelson tweeted, “Does Brock know we are testing now randomly @ufc?”
Jeff Novitzky does he get a pass @arielhelwani #cycle #lastmin”
@GrabakaHitman thought that this fight with Mark Hunt had writing on the wall already. He tweeted that “They’re having a guy that doesn’t react well to punches, coming off a 4.5 year layoff, to fight Mark Hunt. This only ends one way people.”
So as you can see, fighters and fans alike have different feelings for Lesnar’s return. With the fighters, they just love to see a man who was well respected for his demeanor in and out of the octagon give it a go one more time and they hope he can give the fans a good and entertaining fight. As for the fans, they are caught up in the dilemma of wanting to see him back, but at the same time, not wanting to see a man who doesn’t really fight for real as much anymore go in and get knocked out just like his last fight with Alistair Ovreem that sent him away from the UFC. It also did not help Lesnar’s cause that he was battling diverticulitis while he was fighting in the UFC and in his interview with Hannah Storm of ESPN, he even mentioned how the medical infection really was his biggest battle while he was in his stint with the company.
All criticisms and compliments aside for the man, there is one thing everyone can agree on. We are all excited to see him back no matter the outcome and that thanks to Brock Lesnar, this UFC 200 card will be immortalized in the history books as not just a great MMA card, but a spectacle to behold for all sports fans alike.
Links:
https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&q=Brock%20Lesnar
https://www.facebook.com/topic/Brock-Lesnar/104026429634281
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