Brock Lesnar’s brief MMA career included a number of memorable performances, none more brutal than the one he delivered on this day 17 years ago.
Having risen to stardom as a professional wrestler in WWE, Lesnar began his pursuit of success in mixed martial arts. But things did not begin well for the freakish athlete, who suffered a humiliating submission loss to Frank Mir after being made to tap out just 90 seconds into his UFC debut.
‘The Beast Incarnate’ returned with a chip on his shoulder six months later and began a brutal four-fight run that included a UFC heavyweight title win, two successful defenses, and Lesnar’s revenge against Mir.
To make all that possible, Lesnar effectively ended the career of a legend in devastating fashion.
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Brock Lesnar battered Heath Herring to record his first UFC win in style
UFC 87 took place on this day, August 9, in 2008. The event was headlined by Georges St-Pierre’s title defense against Jon Fitch and also featured the likes of Kenny Florian, Demian Maia, Cheick Kongo, and a young Jon Jones.
Co-headlining was Lesnar, who ensured that his sophomore Octagon appearance against Pride legend Heath Herring would play out much differently than his first. Aside from a failed flying knee attempt right out of the gates, almost everything went to plan for ‘The Beast Incarnate’.
Lesnar was immediately on the front foot and soon sent Herring tumbling back with a vicious right hand. From there, the South Dakota native spent much of the fight in top position, raining down ground-and-pound strikes en route to earning three lopsided 30-26 scorecards in his favor.
Lesnar’s brutal punching power was reported to have shattered Herring’s orbital bone, an injury he had to fight through while surviving the remaining two rounds of the beatdown.
While the WWE star would go on to enjoy title success, Herring was not the same fighter in the aftermath. Having had his confidence and momentum dealt a considerable blow, ‘The Texas Crazy Horse’ did not compete again for eight years.
He returned at the age of 38 under the Rizin banner, losing to Amir Aliakbari in 2016 and Satoshi Ishii in the final fight of his MMA career in 2017.
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Heath Herring may have dug his own grave against Brock Lesnar
Lesnar was clearly fired up and ready to display complete dominance when the cage door shut behind him at UFC 87. And judging by his post-fight revelation, that was down to more than just a desire to bounce back from humiliation against Mir.
Appearing on ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin’s podcast in 2015, Lesnar revealed that he had overheard some trash talk backstage as Herring began to make his walkout at UFC 87.
“The funny thing about the fight is that we shared a locker room, me and Heath Herring. His locker room was across the hall,” Lesnar said.
“As a competitor your whole life, you don’t want to fight off of aggression. You don’t want to wrestle off of aggression, it’s a competition. You want to go out cool, calm and collected.
“Everything was fine until his entrance music hit and on their way past my locker room, he said, ‘I’m going to show this (expletive) that this (expletive) is real,” Lesnar added.
“That lit a fire under my ass. I’d like to talk to that guy. I hope he’s doing well and everything.”