Brock's illness and the UFC Heavyweight Title

It's not been too great a week for the UFC. After Strikeforce's card, headed by the world's number one heavyweight, drew some decent numbers the UFC's heavweight division has been rocked by injuries and illness.

If the reports on the extent of Brock's illness are accurate then it's likely that the UFC will have to create another interim heavyweight champion. There are currently two top level heavyweight fights in the schedule, namely Gonzaga vs Dos Santos and Mir vs Kongo, which should now take on added importance. Unfortunately Big Nog's staph infection has ruled him out for the time being so his fight with Cain Velasquez is off.

Other fighters...

Ben Rothwell - gatekeeper
Mirko Cro Cop - looks a shadow of his former self
Paul Buentello - gatekeeper
Shane Carwin - out following knee surgery
Stefan Struve - nowhere near ready for title shot
Todd Duffee - unproven and injured

Assuming Brock is out for a while and an interim title is created how would you like to see the UFC manage the division?

- Would the winner of Gonzaga v Dos Santos face the winner of Mir v Kongo for the title?
- How does Cain Velasquez fit into the picture?
- Should the UFC look at signing Andrei Arlovski, or any other free agents?

This has got to be a front runner for greatest thread of all time!

Haha went down like a lead balloon!

I all depends how long Brock is out for.

Theres no need for these Interim Titles and Stripping Title holders if they can even fight once a year, So depends on how long Brock is out really.

If he is out for say another year then an Interim title. If he is out for longer I say Strip him and give him a title shot when he returns.

Carwin is the frontrunner for any Interim title so you gotta assume he will be in the fight no matter who he is agains. Since Gonzaga and JDS are fighting and Nog is sick I guess were going to see Carwin vs Valesquez at say UFC 109 for the Interim title.

Mir Still fights Kongo at UFC 107 in December
JDS fights Gonzaga at UFC 108 in Janurary
And Carwin can fight Cain at UFC 109 in Feburary as he said he is good to go then

I think JDS vs Gonzaga is fairly 50/50 who wins, but Mir is a Huge favorite to beat Kongo. Who knows maby Mir vs Nog for the number 1 contender if he beats Kongo... or Nog could get a shot at The Cawin vs Cain and let Mir fight the winner of JDS vs Gonzaga... Id rather see it play out like that.

2 or 3 years ago, if UFC has their top 2 guys in HW division, they would have been shattered and in big trouble. Now they can more than cope with Nog and Brock out for awhile. Their still is Cain, Carwin,Mir Kongo, Crocop,JDS,Gonzaga. And it would also give some young prospects Struve Barry Duffee etc a chance to propel themselves too top of division, now that things have opened up a bit.

My point is while loosing Nog and Brock for immediate future is a blow to UFC, they can still cope comfortably and build up some fighters, who will be waiting for Nog and Brock (hopefully).

How much do you think Dana regrets all his bad mouthing of Fedor at this moment in time?

Brock's Jiu-Jitsu coach reckons he'll be back in 6 months...

We spoke with Rodrigo "Comprido" Medeiros -- a 7-time World Jiu-Jitsu champ -- who tells us the reigning UFC heavyweight champ "is getting better and that is the most important thing ... He will be fine and be fighting again within 6 months."

Medeiros adds, "I can just say that the heavyweights can stop laughing and get ready to start crying because the champion will be back soon."

http://www.tmz.com/2009/11/20/brock-lesnar-ufc-fight-illness-stomach-dana-white-wwe/

Brock has a Jiu-Jitsu coach?????????







Get well soon Big man

Ha!

That was my first thought as well, apparently he appointed him after the first Mir fight.

i thought he trained submissions/catchwrestling/no gi bjj with Eric Paulson?

MMA Convert

We all know training camps can be expensive for fighters, but we never really hear how expensive. As interesting as it would be to see a list of how much these guys spend to hone their skills and get in peak condition 8-10 weeks at a time, I don’t have one, but I can share that Brock Lesnar would probably be at the top.

As he revealed to Yahoo! Sports, he spends more on his training camps than most people make in a year.

This camp has seven heavyweight training partners, a group that ranges from sizeable strikers (Carwin has a big right hand) to two-time NCAA wrestling champion Cole Konrad.

In addition to Morgan, he’ll bring in specialists, such as Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros for jiu-jitsu. It’s intense. He pays everyone well, puts them up in nice lodging and covers all expenses. Lesnar says it costs “six figures” to run.

“This camp costs me a lot of money,” he said.

“I’m fortunate to be able to do it,” Lesnar said. “It’s a great environment. A lot of these other guys, they travel around and try to find the right guys to work out with. This is best heavyweight camp in the world.

As Fightlinker points out, just because Brock spends a boatload of money on his training camps doesn’t mean it’s better than training at places like Greg Jackson’s MMA or Xtreme Couture. Brock just has the means to bring a great camp to him in the middle of nowhere which jacks up the price of everything.

The funny thing is when you consider Brock makes millions of dollars each fight, I bet he spends less percentage wise than a lot of guys do.

http://www.mmaconvert.com/2009/10/09/brock-lesnar-spends-six-figures-on-his-training-camps/