So, what does "the paper of record" have to say about Brock Lesnar vs Randy
Couture? RM Scneiderman
of THE NEW YORK TIMES posted his preview of the UFC 91
main event showdown HERE
A classic matchup of youth versus experience will be on display Saturday when
Brock Lesnar faces Randy Couture for the Ultimate Fighting Championship
heavyweight title in Las Vegas. But the fight also represents a generational
shift for both mixed martial arts and amateur wrestling.
Couture, 45, is the crafty mixed martial arts veteran, the standard-bearer
for the sport for more than a decade. Lesnar, 31, is the up-and-coming star, a
former World Wrestling Entertainment fan favorite whose popularity prompted the
U.F.C. to grant him a shot at the title after only three bouts.
Couture is also a member of the old guard of amateur wrestlers who turned to
fighting when doing so offered little money or fame. Lesnar is part of a growing
trend of amateur wrestlers who hope to make top dollar as professional
fighters.
A classic matchup of youth versus experience will be on display
Saturday when Brock Lesnar faces Randy Couture for the Ultimate Fighting
Championship heavyweight title in Las Vegas. But the fight also represents a
generational shift for both mixed martial arts and amateur
wrestling.
Couture, 45, is the crafty mixed martial arts veteran, the
standard-bearer for the sport for more than a decade. Lesnar, 31, is the
up-and-coming star, a former World Wrestling Entertainment fan favorite whose
popularity prompted the U.F.C. to grant him a shot at the title after only three
bouts.
Couture is also a member of the old guard of amateur wrestlers
who turned to fighting when doing so offered little money or fame. Lesnar is
part of a growing trend of amateur wrestlers who hope to make top dollar as
professional fighters.
Today’s fighters have to be well versed in wrestling, submissions
and striking, but since the U.F.C. began 15 years ago, many with stellar
wrestling backgrounds have found success. In the 1990s, amateur wrestling
standouts like Couture, Mark Coleman, Don Frye, Kevin Randleman and Dan Severn
fought their way to U.F.C. titles.
Part of the reason is that wrestlers can often control where the
fight takes place, by bringing it to the ground. The rigorous conditioning and
training of college and Olympic wrestlers also prepares them for the grueling
preparation for mixed martial arts.
Couture has found success for both of those reasons. In 1992, he
finished his wrestling career at Oklahoma
State and opted for a low-paying coaching job at
Oregon State while he trained for the Olympics.
(He was an alternate on four Olympic teams.)
Five years later, after Frye, a former college teammate, won the
U.F.C. tournament in 1996, Couture decided to test himself in the
Octagon.
“I saw the direct application of years of wrestling training and
wrestling technique in the sport,” he said. “I also heard about the type of
paychecks the guys were making.”
Couture won two fights in one night and earned $20,000, nearly
his entire year’s salary as a college wrestling coach.
Now the economic incentives of mixed martial arts are much
larger. Entry-level fighters can still make as little as $3,000 a bout in the
U.F.C., but top stars command millions of dollars a year for their fights and
endorsement deals. Over the past four years, the U.F.C.’s success has brought
the sport to a mass audience.
In 2000, when Lesnar won an NCAA
wrestling championship, the U.F.C. — then under
different ownership — was an unregulated fringe sport with limited money and
limited visibility. Lesnar wanted to continue his athletic career, but saw only
two options: trying to make the Olympic wrestling team or playing football, a
sport he had not played since high school.
“Going to the Olympics, there’s really no money in that,” he
said. “I was a guy from Webster, S.D., who didn’t even have two nickels to rub
together.”
Instead, Lesnar opted to turn to professional wrestling and
became a star.
Last year, after five years of “wrestling-entertainment,” a
number of injuries and a failed stint with the Minnesota
Vikings, he realized his dream of becoming a
professional athlete. While Lesnar is still developing his fighting skills, the
influx of young, top-level wrestlers is certain to increase the talent pool in
mixed martial arts.
“A higher caliber athlete is coming,” said Marc Laimon, the coach
of Team Takedown, a management company that recruits top wrestlers and tries to
mold them into mixed martial artists and that is the owner of Cobra Kai
Jiu-Jitsu in Las Vegas.
“The guys who fight in the U.F.C. to get chicks in the clubs,
those guys are going to fade away.”
Ted Ehrhardt, one of Team Takedown’s founders, said he received
20 to 30 e-mail messages a week from fighters asking about
management.
“I’m taking the very top wrestlers in the world,” he
said.
Among the company’s clients are Jake Rosholt, a three-time
N.C.A.A. champion; Johny Hendricks, a two-time N.C.A.A. champion; and Shane
Roller, a three-time all-American. Ehrhardt said he was also interested in
signing Henry Cejudo, an Olympic gold medalist, and Muhammed Lawal, a former
N.C.A.A. champion and Olympic hopeful.
Despite the increased financial incentives, and the success of
fighters like Couture and Lesnar, not every wrestler is looking to follow in
their footsteps.
“It’s not for everyone,” Ehrhardt said. “A lot of guys who like
to wrestle might not necessarily like getting punched in the
face.”
But if wrestlers continue to succeed, wrestling at all levels
could reap the benefits.
“Mixed martial arts and its recent success have put a spotlight
on wrestling,” said Gary Abbott, a spokesman for USA Wrestling, the amateur
sport’s governing body.
Regardless of who wins on Saturday, that spotlight seems likely
to expand.
MMA News 
