Barring any freak injuries, the winner of the August Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira fight will face the winner of the UFC 100 Frank Mir/Brock Lesnar fight at The Ultimate 2009 in December.
Internally, the company believes that any possible match coming out of the two fights would sell better to the public than a show headlined by Shane Carwin or Cain Velasquez challenging for the belt. A Lesnar/Couture rematch would do huge numbers, even bigger than the first fight, and a Mir/Nogeuira fight would likely serve as a good secondary main event underneath another title fight. And then there’s the potential of first-time matches between Lesnar and Nogueira and Mir and Couture.
Brock Lesnar will fight Frank Mir in the main event at UFC 100 in a contest that could establish Lesnar as not only the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion but also the undisputed biggest star in UFC history. But one longtime MMA star, Dan Henderson, thinks Lesnar has been pushed to the forefront too quickly.
Henderson, who is preparing to fight Michael Bisping on the UFC 100 undercard, said Friday on ESPN's Jim Rome Is Burning that he thinks the UFC gave Lesnar a shot at the heavyweight title too quickly last year, when Lesnar had just a 2-1 MMA record.
"I didn't really agree with the fact that he should have even had a title shot at 2-1," Henderson said. "He's obviously proven he's a specimen, and dangerous in the sport, but somebody that new, who hasn't fought any of the top guys, to get a title shot? I believe he should have earned it, not just come in off reputation or pay-per-view sales."
Henderson said he thinks "a few" of the top heavyweights in MMA would beat Lesnar, although he also acknowledged that Lesnar is already very good, and Henderson thinks that as Lesnar adds more MMA skill to his impressive athleticism, he could be impossible to beat.
"At one point," Henderson said of Lesnar, "I'm sure he will be unstoppable." (credit: mma.fanouse.com)