Brock Lesnar did not need the Ultimate Fighting Championship belt to strut around with to make him the guy with a target taped on his back. He WAS the target – plus the words “Hit Me” –the very first moment he entered the octagon.

If you say it’s because of his WWE background, yes, it’s because of that – and more.

There are several fighters who hailed from the world of pro wrestling, and some of them (Ken Shamrock, Mark Coleman, and Dan Severn) are hall of famers now. By “several” we mean a whole bunch of 61 cage warriors to date. So why pick on Brock Lesnar?

It’s his WWE background, and more. Unlike the other MMA fighters who dabbled in pro wrestling at one point or another, Brock Lesnar’s entry to MMA was something you would either hate or envy.

An outsider, an “actor” in the fake, “scripted,” and theatrical world of WWE getting a contract like that, and an exposure like that would surely offend both the “legitimate” mixed martial artists and the hardcore fans. And this is not without a valid reason: In Lesnar’s first foray into the octagon (Dynamite!! USA), he earned $500,000 while someone as big an MMA sensation as Royce Gracie only got $300,000.

You know, MMA fighters are not unlike the warriors of Sparta. They are heavily trained in known mixed martial arts disciplines – for years. And they are a proud lot. They are a special breed of disciplined professional fighters. It becomes quite understandable that it becomes inconceivable, even unacceptable that someone who comes from a “different breed”, from a different (and fake) world, could just comes in with a bigger ticket, on a red carpet, with huge media fanfare and an accompanying huge contract to boot. We could not blame the hardcores for hating Lesnar.

It is in this same breath that we could not blame Lesnar for his attitude towards the fans. Not that we agree with or condone his so-called “unprofessional,” and very “WWE” post-Mir-fight antics. But when you are negatively judged, derided, booed, and taken as a phoney even before (and even after) you prove yourself, you’d surely feel sore. And feel unfairly treated. And, since Brock Lesnar is no lame duck, would eventually want to hit back.

And thus, we get Lesnar’s attitude.

It is not WWEish, it is not unprofessional. It is a fighter’s instinct.

Bobby Lashley, another fighter with the “WWE-turning-MMA” stigma written all over is another case in point. Remember Jason Guida’s “You’ve been faking this for how long” question? Or Mike Cook’s Nacho Libre mask to taunt Lashley?

Lesnar, and the still undefeated newcomer Lashley (4-0) are just some of the exciting things helps a lot in the popularity and growth of mixed martial arts. Wait till you get a taste of Kimbo Slice in The Ultimate Fighter (and God forbids if he gets a slot in the UFC).

And wait…there’s still that genie Kazaam hovering around and threatening to wreak havoc inside that bloody cage after he retires from being a cager – no pun intended.

The future is bright for MMA.

Unlike fellow WWE alumnus Brock Lesnar who skyrocketed to MMA stardom via UFC, Bobby Lashley wants to take the slower route.

When asked if he would be invited, would he want to fight for the UFC, the former WWE champ said no. What?!! Ain’t that a bit lame? Lashley said he needs to stay on the undercards or on smaller gigs before he considers moving up on the UFC. Oh, he respects UFC so much that he calls it the “pinnacle of the sport” that he won’t even consider being with the UFC now. We’d say it’s still lame.

We’d say that’s a major issue on the self-confidence department. Lashley tries to justify it by saying, “When I get to the UFC, I want to be a serious contender for the title.” Major confidence issue, indeed.

Last we’ve heard, the guy would rather be on the reality TV. With this letdown on the guy’s aggressiveness on going up, when “reality TV” was mentioned, we thought he meant “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” or “Supernanny.” Pardon the slip, he meant “The Ultimate Fighter.”

He’d house up with other MMA no-namers in a house outside of Las Vegas, show the world how he bitches up, er, we mean show the world how he trains and take down other wannabes. Yeah right, reality TV… as a means of moving up to UFC. That’s cool. We just can’t help feeling let down his “no” to the rhetorical question of “if offered a slot on the UFC.”

But then…

The guy starts to make sense when he said, “I don’t want to just be another guy going into the UFC because it’s a grand stage and build there. I don’t think that’s what I need to do.” Oh, yeah. The octagon could be a very unforgiving stage. To say the obvious, a premature exposure could break you more than it could build you.

Oh, yeah. We remember how that other WWE guy, Lesnar, was not spared from belittling remarks when he first set foot inside the octagon, “He’s a freakin’ wrestler!” We remember how Jason Guida “screwed with his head” during a pre-fight presser.

We remember how we wrote last week how “it is easier to work yourself upwards when everyone’s looking somewhere else, than having pot shots thrown at you while you fight your way up.”

So, okay. Good luck on your play safe mode, Lashley. We find it a bit lame. But then, you’ve got some wisdom there.

By:  Joe B. Skotzou

It is easy to get intrigued by Bobby Lashley. Three months into mixed martial arts and off he goes getting compared to one of the sports’ biggest crowd-drawers, Brock Lesnar. In a sense, simply because he comes from where Lesnar was, he gets to be talked about more compared to other newbies. Now, that’s what we call lucky.

Popularity could be a pain in the a*^@#.

When a newbie comes and gets to be talked about a lot, the general direction would mostly be for some MMA fans to try to put him down. “He’s a wrestler. He comes from that fake sport of fake actors.” Remember how Brock Lesnar was met with wryness? In a sense, one is guilty of being a loser until he proves it otherwise. In a sense, this disparagement makes it more difficult for a newbie to move around. It is easier to work yourself upwards when everyone’s looking somewhere else, than having pot shots thrown at you while you fight your way up.

MMA is still show business.

Whoever gets more attention –more media mileage, is one step ahead of the rest of the flock. Now, it is up to him to show the denizens within and outside the octagon that there is something worth talking about. And he has to show his mettle fast, lest his “promising newbie” status becomes just another flash in the pan. And the 6-foot one former EWC champion seems to be doing well at this.

First match passed with flying colors.

His debut exposure at the cage (MFA: There Will Be Blood) was explosive with that less-than-a-minute knock-out win over Joshua Franklin. Massively muscled like a raging bull, he charged like a lithe pit bull to pick up Franklin and slam him to the ground. Who said wrestlers are supposed to be slow? "I learned how to move with a faster pace of training when I was small, and I was able to keep going at that pace as I got bigger and kept growing,” Lashley said.

Second match was not without its share of excitement.

Lashley, without trying to, seems to have brought with him professional wrestling’s flair for drama. The pre-fight trash-talk he got from Jason Guida was a good example of how you stir interest to a match. And nothing is more media-frenzy friendly than two protagonists on the verge of slugging it out during a press-con.

"He played a lot of head games before the fight," Lashley said, referring to the trash-talk thrown on him by Guida. Lashley admitted that Guida “screwed with his head” when the latter said, "You've been faking this for how long? Tell'em, let'em know. How long's it been since you trained hard? How long has it been since you squared up against someone who's going to hit you on the chin and not pull a punch?"

Fortunately, he was able to keep his game for this fight. The former wrestling champion is now 2-0 to help appease the usual naysayers who oppose professional wrestlers dipping their toes in the now more popular world of mixed martial arts.

Indeed, Bobby Lashley is a promising add to the world of mixed martial arts. Let us not forget the new faces (and fat pockets) he brings to MMA: he’s got a large following that he brought with him from the (fake) world of wrestling. Remember, this is show business too.

MMA, like any other spectator sport, is all about putting them arses on chairs.