Renowned trainer and American Kickboxing Academy founder, Javier Mendez spoke with FIGHT! Mag recently about the rise and fall of Brock Lesnar, and from an expert's point of view, he had some interesting things to say. "Brock was an under achiever. He could have been the greatest, but he didn't do the things he should have been doing to achieve this." When asked why he felt this way, Javier Mendez revealed that while preparing Cain Velasquez for Brock Lesnar, they went through a lot of work to break down Brock Lesnar's entire game. This was the fight of Cain's life. "We talked to a LOT of people who have had history with Brock Lesnar to figure out how we were going to beat him. At the time, a lot of people told us Brock was stylistically an extremely dangerous fight for Cain. Brock had the better wrestling credentials, he was bigger, he was stronger, he could take a punch and we knew he was going to come out like a bull and take advantage of all these things. After talking to a lot of guys, we knew that his camp was 90% Jiu-Jitsu and Wrestling. He was OBSESSED with the ground. People were telling us he was constantly bringing in black belts and big strong wrestlers and he was out-grappling them on the ground and using them as punching bags. I knew immediately we were going to have to beat him on the feet, and I told Cain this. As a trainer, it did concern me when everyone I talked to that has trained with Brock Lesnar is telling me even some high level black belts haven't been able to submit or beat him from their back. But at the same time, I knew he wasn't going to win because this is MMA, not Jiu-Jitsu and not wrestling. Cain was going to beat him on the feet. We constantly worked Cain's bottom game. It wasn't an issue if Cain was on top, but we did not want to be on the bottom and allow him to secure a position because from there we knew he would immediately start trying to work his ground and pound or work a submission. It payed off. The fight went exactly how we thought it was going to go. Brock Lesnar was an extreme case of talent wasted. If he had switched his training and moved to AKA, I have no doubt in my mind we could have turned him around on the feet. His ground game is phenomenal, all he needed was the confidence to strike. I think Brock Lesnar would be very successful if he decided to partake in grappling tournaments. The ADCC would be perfect for him. If he ever wanted to compete in Mixed Martial Arts again at an elite level, he needs to switch his training."
BTW, few of us on here said the same thing. How if Brock trained properly, he could be unstoppable. But with the injury and the lack of Stand up training, it just didnt happen. He made his mark tho.
Yeah right. At the end of the day he hated getting punched in the face thus not the greatest anything EVER.
everyone hates getting punched in the face when you arent use to it. That is why you have to train for it.
He wasn't willing to do that and that was the problem. He had plenty of time too, but he wasted it grappling.
After the Carwin fight, everyone with an ounce of knowledge knew how to beat Lesnar. But thanks for the experts insight Javier.
Exactly. Brock's MMA career was done as soon as everyone saw how he reacted to getting punched in the face. Carwin lost the battle but won the war.
Lesnar was never going to be a very good standup fighter. I feel like I'm reading some more bullshit about the nfl sucking up american heavies. Hard work doesn't and can't get everyone to the top. People have aptitudes and natural boundaries to how good they can be at any given thing. Brock's peak level at wrestling is way up there and his peak level at stand up is not.
problem w/ lesnar was that he was a bit old to learn how to strike and take punches. plus, he was able to get away w/ size and athleticsm alone. shit, all he did was double leg take downs and ground and pound. only guy he was able to stand up w/ was couture because he was fucking tiny compared to him. as for his ground game, that triangle choke he pulled on carwin is the easiest bjj hold a wrestler or any non bjj/judo guy could pull off. it's a simple transition from an arm headlock that's often used in folkstyle wrestling to pin opponents. it's also a move chael sonnen (who never submits opponents) executed to tap brian stann.
I think that's fair. I don't think Brock could ever have become anything more than a slightly below average striker but his unwillingness to train boxing and take punches in training really limited him. You can get better at ANYTHING by training. However, all the training in the world wouldn't make Lesnar the same boxer as JDS but it would have made him better than the cowering shell that fought Carwin, Cain and Overeem. Just my opinion.
