The UFC Career of Brock Lesnar: Part 2

Since his debut at UFC 81, Brock Lesnar has been the biggest star in the UFC. He's headlined some of the most successful PPVs in the company's history and has guaranteed exciting performance in victory and defeat. On the heels of a devastating loss and recovering from a second bout with diverticulitis, Lesnar will step back in to the Octagon with no lesser challenge than the highly touted Alistair Overeem. In honor of his return, I'll take a look a look at what Brock has done in his last four years with the UFC.

Brock Lesnar v. Frank Mir - UFC 100

Coming out of UFC 91 the UFC Heavyweight division was still in a bit of turmoil. While Randy Couture was involved with his litigation with the promotion, the UFC created the Interim HW title and at UFC 81 Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira and Tim Silvia fought for the championship. Big Nog pulled off an amazing come from behind victory and submitted Silvia with a guillotine in the third round. This win led to his first defense against Brock's former opponent Frank Mir at UFC 92, just one month after Lesnar won the official title from The Natural. Halfway through round two, Frank Mir gave Nogueira his first ever TKO loss and set the stage for the highly anticipated rematch at UFC 100.

At UFC 100, Lesnar had the greatest performance of his career to date. Early in the fight, Brock capitalized on a risky submission attempt by Mir, who dove for a leglock. Lesnar reacted quickly and began establishing himself in Mir's half-guard. This is where the majority of the fight would take place, and where Brock would spend the rest of the round bludgeoning Frank's face with short hard punches. In the second round, Mir saw a little success on the feet, but eventually ended up on his back again after attempting a knee from the clinch. That was all Brock needed and proceeded TKO Frank Mir.

Unifying the HW title at UFC 100 is without a doubt the high point of Lesnar's career thus far. The event was the most successful in the company's history, selling 1.6M Pay Per Views. On top of that, Lesnar avenged his only loss and gave one of the most memorable post-fight interviews ever. He was truly seen as an unstoppable force in the heavyweight division and was only ever ranked lower than the greatest heavyweight the sport had ever seen Fedor Emelianenko.

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SBN coverage of UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem

Unfortunately for Brock, things took a hard turn shortly after UFC 100. In September of 2009, Lesnar was diagnosed with a life threatening illness called diverticulitis and was sidelined until July 2010. In the meantime, Shane Carwin knocked out a once again resurging Frank Mir to earn the Interim Title and was ready to face Lesnar at UFC 116.

On July 3, 2010 Brock's aura of invicibility finally faded. After two failed takedown attempts early in the first round, Lesnar ate a devastating uppercut from Carwin and found himself on the receiving end of a beating for the first time in his career. To his credit, Lesnar remained calm and was able to defend well enough to keep the fight alive, while Shane exhausted himself trying to finish the fight. By the end of the round, Brock returned to his feet and fighting back. Between rounds, Carwin was visibly fatigued. When the second round started, the momentum completely shifted when Lesnar beautifully ducked a Carwin right hand and scored a power double-leg takedown. It didn't take long after that for Lesnar to secure an arm triangle choke and force the contender to tap.

Despite a poor first round, Lesnar showed great resiliency in this fight. However, the chink in Brock's armor was definitely revealed against Carwin, and many questioned his ability to compete standing in the future.

Brock Lesnar v. Cain Velasquez - UFC 121

Coming in to UFC 121, Cain Velasquez was riding high on a first round knock out victory of Minotauro Nogueira, finally absolving himself of the "pillowfists" moniker. Lesnar had proven at 116 that he was still able perform after recovering from illness. Now, the looming question was whether Cain's speed and technical acumen could overcome the size and brute strength of Brock.

It took just over four minutes to get the answer to that question At the opening bell, Lesnar came at Velasquez like a berserker in an attempt to overwhelm the challenger. In hindsight, the strategy was poorly advised at best. Cain remained composed in the face of the champion's pressure. After shucking off two takedown attempts from Brock, the challenger answered with one of his own where he was able to punish Lesnar from back side control. He then sent the champ spinning after landing hard in a striking exchange and the end was near. Brock was on the wrong end of a clinch knee and an overhand right and Cain finished with some obligatory ground and pound to earn the TKO victory and the UFC Heavyweight Championship.

Because of a recurring bout with diverticulitis this was the last time we saw Brock Lesnar in the Octagon. He was scheduled to face Junior Dos Santos in the spring of 2011 after appearing as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter: Season 13 before the disease struck him again. Now, on the eve of UFC 141, Brock must return and prove himself again in the wake of the worst loss of his career and recovering once again from a serious illness. It is no easy task, and neither is his opponent Alistair Overeem.