david vs goliath battle here....although a rather technical david I personally think couture is just too experienced and too good for someone so new to the sport (despite their unbelievable strength and size) any thoughts?
I think Lesnar will win, he's in a period of steep learning curve so I think he will have improved his striking, submissions (including avoidence/escape) and tactics will have improved dramatically.
To just look at the two i would say Lesnar, but then Randy's experience changes everything. looking at the pro picks on Sherdog.com the results when asked who will win tomorrow are as follows: Pros who picked Couture: 28 Pros who picked Lesnar: 6 No pick: 10 that being said it is interesting when i look on betfair.com at the odds on the fight: Randy Couture to win currently 2.22 (6/5) Brock Lesnar to win currently 1.77 (4/5) this shows Brock to be the favourite but the money is evenly spread with around 10 000pounds on each fighter. ...interesting
I won't be surprised if Lesnar wins, but I'm predicting that Couture's experience and game-planning will get wim the win. I think he'll use his strikes to set up his takedowns, and put Brock on his back, where he's never been before, and either get the UD or a TKO stoppage. If Brock wins, it'll be a short fight; if Couture wins, it'll be a longer fight.
I'd like to see Randy win but as I said on another thread I think that Lesnar is younger, stronger, and faster then Couture. Couture is experienced and very intelligent and will probably come up w/ a good game plan for Lesnar. When I first heard of this match up I thought that Couture's experience would be way too much for Lesnar. I thought, just like the Mir fight, that Randy would school Lesnar and exploit his weaknesses. But I have been following the training, the interviews, the "all access" crap and I forget that Lesnar has improved tremendously since his first bout and he continues to improve. He is a quick learner. I really don't think that he should be given a Title shot w/ only 3 fights under his belt but hey, he is a name that pulls the crowd. Sure he beat Herring and his striking started it off but he finished on the ground. Couture is familiar w/ the ground as much as Lesnar so I think that is draw. Randy has the edge in intelligence and experience in MMA but Brock has youth and power. I will not be paying for the P4V but I certainly think this will be and interesting fight.
Let's keep the discussion going, but remember to use spoiler tags 'til 24 hours after the event. Spoiler I didn't get to see it, but kept refreshing the Sherdog play-by-play page. I guess Couture stuffed a few Lesnar shots before getting hit? From the sound of it he tried to play the clinch game. I think that was a mistake. I was also picking Stevenson to beat Florian, but apparently Milhouse has turned into a beast. It'll be interesting to see him vs. Penn. I'm even starting to wonder if he might take Sherk in a rematch. Hazlett is someone to keep your eye on. He gave Koscheck a hard time, pulled of a whizzer-into-an-armbar against Burkman, and now pulled off another unorthodox submission. If he keeps this up he may get a title shot by early 2010. Am I the only one who still wonders when being best friends with Rich Franklin won't be enough to save Gurgel from the chopping block? I was also a little disappointed to hear Alvin Robinson lost. Not a particularly big fan, but he's a decent figher in a gatekeeper sort of way.
It's a pity that Couture lost. After the first round I actually thoght Couture would win. Lesnar, while being much bigger really strunggled with Couture. It wasn't until the 2nd round and Lesnar connected with a sledghammer that it was over for Couture. Too big and too powerful. I also though Couture seemed a bit lethargic. His lateral movement wasn't great.
We'll see. Nog's fought bigger guys, like Sapp. The thing is, unlike Sapp, Lesnar seems to know what he's doing. That said, I'd still like to see Nog win.
I'm going to have to go with lesnar being the undisputed HW champ after beating the winner of Nog vs. Mir. It was messed up that Couture actually lost out when he tried to box lesnar - not in the clinch or on the ground. Couture's decision to clinch up with him and use the dirty boxing was the best thing he could have done. I just about jumped up out of my chair and cheered when Couture almost took him down at the end of round one, or when he reversed the mount and almost got on top of Lesnar - it was freaking fantastic!
Like him or not, Lesnar is bigger, faster and stronger than anyone else in the game. Add to that a tremendous work ethic and a solid (and expanding) skill set, and you have a guy who's going simply overpower all but one or two guys, and I'll bet on him against ANYONE. I've said it on other threads, and I'll say it here. Lesnar's going to dominate the UFC heavyweight division for the next few years.
Yeah, Couture looked slow in the first round. He picked it up in the second and I thought that he was going to successfully execute a gameplan of wearing Lesnar down. Both guys actually looked kind of sluggish the whole time though. I disagree about "too big and too powerful." Couture played around with head movement just like he developed a propensity to do ever since coming back out of retirement, and got hit with a hard shot right on the temple. Lesnar being a huge, strong guy was obviously going to matter. But that shot didn't look like something that could only have come from a huge, strong guy. Lots of heavyweights can easily put that much power behind a punch. And if it lands where that one landed, it's probably going to be the end of the fight. I haven't really seen the evidence for this, other than in the takedown department, where Lesnar is clearly much, much better than Sapp was. I'd think he's better at other stuff too, but I haven't really seen it demonstrated in his four fights. It really still seems like he's untested. Choi Hong-Man is definitely bigger. Lots and lots of fighters are faster. Especially if the fight against Couture is a good indication of his speed. Not sure about stronger... I doubt he'll win his next match. Mir spanked him like a baby once and can in all probability do it again in the event that it's Mir he faces next. Same with Nogueira, only moreso.
Didn't know how to call this one myself. I'm a bit disappointed that Coture lost, but only because I've always liked Randy. I'm still trying to bring myself to accept the idea that some guy who came from pro wrestling of all places can be a serious competitor. I'm nowhere near ready to crown him king yet, but after beating Harring and Coture, he does have to be taken seriously now, he's earned at least that. I'll be intersted to see him fight big Nog.
I did pick Couture, if that's what you mean. But I wasn't shocked that he was taken out. It's happened to him before and he's only gotten older. Nogueira, on the other hand, has never been taken out. So Kazushi Sakuraba used to give you nightmares or what?
He didn't really 'come from pro wrestling'. The guy is a former NCAA wrestling champion. Yes he did a stint in pro-wrestling (took the money), but the guy competed as a top level athlete on a national level as well. I am not a Lesnar fan. Nothing I'd like better than to see Crocop knock him out with a left high kick. That being said I don't think that would happen if they were ever matched up. The guy is good. I still think Nog and Fedor are the biggest threats to him (due to their submission game). I think he beats Mir if they meet again. He was pounding the heck out of Mir in their first meeting. When they stood it back up because Lesnar was hitting Mir in the back of the head you have to remember that Mir was turning the back of his head to Lesnar because he was taking a pounding. It was a beautiful kneebar, but up till that point he was getting dominated. If they meet again Lesnar will be more cautious and Mir does not have a granite chin like Nog (who can take a beating forever yet still pull out that submission).
