Lesnar vs Couture: Let's Get It On!

Hooooo boy.

Dana White sure does know how to make a splash. You've got to wonder just how long he's been holding that in his back pocket. Just when Quinton Jackson had been formally charged and there was a nice-sized black eye on the UFC's rep - BOOM! - Dana puts y'all in check.

So, Randy Couture is officially back in the UFC and is still UFC Heavyweight Champion. And apparently he's back on a multifight deal as Dana says the winner of Randy/Brock will meet the winner of Noguiera/Mir for a unification fight in 2009. Now that's how you stir up interest in your heavy division. And if that wasn't enough, Dana drops the teaser that he wants to do the Fedor fight and as soon as Fedor is clear of contractual obligations to Affliction, they'll try to put it together.

Hoooooo boy.

At first, the Randy/Brock fight seemed a poor choice to me but the more I think about it, the more I start to like it. After his last fight, I saw dollar signs all over Brock Lesnar. The showboating after the win, the crazy near KO at the beginning, the total domination [boring as it was] of a legit heavy contender - all good signs for the UFC. If Brock can improve as much between Herring and Randy as he did between Mir and Herring, this could be an interesting fight. After all, even Randy can't harness the Flux Capacitor and make himself ten years younger. With this long of a layoff, will he have ring rust? If he does, this could get interesting. Randy's whole fight strategy is usually based around getting people down, dirty boxing, and ground-and-pound. I don't think you want to get that close to Brock for any of that so I think it could be a serious style clash for the champ.

And if Brock loses? Well, he's losing his first title fight to Randy Couture. No shame in that. That's an easy rebuild. If he wins? He beat Randy Couture! Oh, and if he beats Randy, you can bet that Dana's praying for Mir to upset Noguiera. Mir/Lesnar 2? I can smell the cash from here.

Dana is predicting that Lesnar/Randy will be the biggest fight in UFC history and do over a million buys. How much of that is promoter hype, I just don't know. But I do think that if Lesnar gets a chance to show his natural personality before the fight - and I mean shoving a mic under his face EVERY possible chance until then - people will want to pay to see him lose. And that's where the money is. The money is in people wanting to pay to see the heels lose - just like in pro wrestling - no matter how many people want to deny it. It worked for Tito. It would work for Josh Koshcheck if he'd embrace his inner dick. It'll work for Brock.

Biggest fight in UFC history? I guess we'll all know soon enough.