The main event of UFC 141 went the way that many believed it would when Alistair Overeem destroyed Brock Lesnar with some unbelievably violent striking that crippled the former UFC champion and led to a quick knockout. But while Overeem may have leaped over Lesnar as the new No. 1 contender for the UFC heavyweight title, is he ready to fill both shoes that Lesnar is leaving behind?
Overeem’s victory was huge for his career, however what came next was a shocking and some would even say disastrous situation for the UFC.
After Joe Rogan spoke to an excited Alistair Overeem who is now set for a future fight against Junior dos Santos, Brock Lesnar broke the fun by announcing his retirement from the UFC.
As would be expected with just about anything Lesnar says, the news shook the MMA community as fans and critics spoke out on both sides of the debate. While some were disheartened to hear the news, others seemed almost jovial to learn that the “overrated” Lesnar was finally gone.
Regardless of which side of that debate you stand on, one thing is for sure—the UFC is not happy about their biggest pay-per-view draw in history suddenly deciding to call it quits.
Despite having only fought a title of seven times in the UFC, Lesnar was the headliner of the majority of the million-buy pay-per-view events in the company’s history.
A former pro wrestling champion in the WWE, Lesnar was the first crossover star from the sports entertainment industry to make a successful transition into being a big star in MMA. The pre-existing star-power that he had led to a tremendous amount of fanfare when he first came to the promotion. Even after he lost his first fight for the UFC against Frank Mir, Lesnar’s popularity continued to rise.
Lesnar’s popularity can be easily seen by the way that the UFC promoted him. Though he was absolutely destroyed in his previous fight against Cain Velasquez and he was coming off of a year-long layoff due to diverticulitis, the company had absolutely no problem placing him in the main event of yet another pay-per-view, this time in a non-title fight against Overeem.
Overeem himself has some popularity, especially internationally, but it is not anywhere near the level of a Brock Lesnar. The truth is that despite him being a Dream and Strikeforce heavyweight champion, Overeem was relatively unknown to many UFC fans coming into UFC 141.
If he wasn’t fighting Brock Lesnar, it could have been a difficult sell to put him in the main event of a pay-per-view even though he absolutely would have deserved it based on his track record.
Overeem is a big, strong, nasty striker who has submission skills on top of that. Though some questioned the quality of many of his recent opponents, after his crushing victory over Lesnar, “The Reem’s” fighting skills are no longer up for debate at this point. He’ll have no problem taking Lesnar’s spot as a perennial top-five heavyweight.
What is up for debate and future analysis is whether or not Overeem will ever have the ability to replace what Brock Lesnar was in terms of being a star.
Despite only having a 4-3 record in the UFC, Lesnar was by far the biggest pay-per-view draw in UFC history. If Overeem ever hopes to become that, he’s going to need to go on an absolutely amazing run that will have to start with a victory over Junior dos Santos in 2012.
If he is able to do that, Overeem will have a chance to start to become a huge star in the sport. But given that he doesn’t have a huge base to begin with, it’s going to be a long, tough road for Overeem to ever replace Brock Lesnar’s superstardom.
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