Brock Lesnar Will Represent Canada At UFC 200
For the duration of his mixed-martial-arts career, former WWE and UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar represented Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota when he was inside the Octagon. But now, it looks like that’s going to change, as Lesnar will be representing Canada in his UFC return on July 9.
Lesnar’s Reebok Fight Kit was revealed over the weekend, and the color scheme suggested that the combat sports superstar will be representing Canada the next time he steps inside the Octagon. Then, in an interview with ESPN, Lesnar admitted that he will be announced as fighting out of Canada at UFC 200.
“Things happen, and I really believe that life is about timing, the timing feels right on this, somehow I always land on my feet. Yes, I’ll be fighting out of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. I’m a Canadian resident, and I love my farm. You can take the boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the boy, and that’s who I’ve always been.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TubJH4IMl54
Lesnar has been a Canadian resident for quite some time now, even though WWE still announces that he hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In an interview with his on-screen advocate, Paul Heyman, Lesnar said that he’ll be training for his upcoming bout with Mark Hunt “the old fashioned way,” which means that he’ll be hiring his own coaches and sparring partners. Lesnar’s way of training has been criticized in the past, and if he ends up losing to Mark Hunt next month, it’ll be criticized again.
On a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub relayed a story that was told to him by Pat Barry, who was one of Lesnar’s training partners during his first UFC run. According to Schaub, Barry got yelled at for hitting Lesnar in the face during a sparring session, and his coaches told him to just paw at Lesnar as opposed to going all-out.
“Dude, ask Pat Barry when he was in [Lesnar’s] training camp — they brought Pat Barry in before he fought someone, and Pat said that he would only train two or three times a week, and they were sparring, and he hits Brock, and Brock freaked the f**k out. Then is coaches were like ‘what are you doing?’ And Pat’s like ‘what do you mean?’ Then they said ‘don’t hit Brock in the face! Just kind of paw at him and feel it out.’ “
Most agree that Lesnar may have ended up being the greatest heavyweight in UFC history if he would’ve gotten together with an established trainer like Greg Jackson. But, it’s a well-known fact that Lesnar doesn’t like to be out of his comfort zone, which is why he’s hiring his own team, and bringing them out to Canada to train him.
It’ll be interesting to see if Lesnar does anything different to prepare for his bout with Mark Hunt. But, it doesn’t seem like he will, because his best chance at winning the fight will be to use his elite wrestling skills, and his powerful ground and pound.
Most would agree that Hunt is a dangerous opponent for Lesnar, as he is one of, if not the hardest hitter in the entire UFC heavyweight division. He’s currently on a two fight win streak, with both of those wins coming by way of knockout in the first round. So, Lesnar will definitely have his hands full on July 9.
[Image via Eric Jamison/AP Images]
