Even before his 41 second destruction of Joshua Franklin, Bobby Lashley hinted that his plan in MMA was to get a few wins, and then challenge Brock Lesnar in the UFC.

With the success Lesnar is having in the octagon, who can blame another former amateur and professional wrestler for wanting to follow the same path.

Even though the match up is still in the hypothetical stages, there is a good chance it could materialize one day, so let’s take a look at how these two big guys match up.

Amateur Wrestling:

Lesnar
If you saw the UFC 91 trailer, then you know Brock Lesnar was the NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion in 2000. He was also the runner up in 1999 at the University of Minnesota. Before joining the Gophers, Lesnar also won two junior college national championships.

Lashley
Bobby Lashley also had a very impressive collegiate wrestling career. His freshman year he finished fourth in the NAIA tournament for Missouri Valley college. The very next year he became the champion, where he remained for three straight seasons. After college, Lashley joined the Army and became a two-time Armed Forces Champion. In 2002 he finished second in the World Military Championships.

Advantage: Lesnar
While it is true that Lashley continued in his wrestling career longer, Lesnar faced a much tougher level of competition at the division one level. No one will ever know how good Lesnar could have been on the next level, but all sources point to pretty darn good.

Professional Wrestling:

Lesnar
He was the next big thing. The WWE did everything to make him a star. Even casual wrestling fans surely knew who he was due to the facts he was on posters, video games, and dvds. During his time in the WWE he feuded with some of the biggest names in the industry. After his break with the WWE, Lesnar took to Japan and worked with some greats there as well.

Lashley
Lashley was on his way in as Lesnar was on his way out. As a huge athletic man, many fans imagined he would have a long and successful career in the WWE. He did win a few titles, but got hurt during the biggest push of his career. He then left the company over a feud with the writing staff.

Advantage: Lesnar
Brock Lesnar had a much bigger push and was much more popular than Bobby Lashley. People who were not even fans of pro wrestling associated Lesnar with it. The same can’t really be said for Lashley. He left when he was on the cusp of making it big.

Significant Other:

Lesnar
The UFC champion is married to Rena Mero, who was known as Sable during her WWE days. The couple is going to have their first child together sometime next year.

Lashley
Currently, Lashley is dating Kristal Marshall, who was a WWE wrestler in her own right. The two had a son named Myles in August of this year.

Advantage: Lesnar
His wife has been in Playboy twice. That has got to be a lot of goys’ dreams.

Debut:

Lesnar
It was probably one of the most hyped debuts of all time. Lesnar debuted as the main event of K-1 Dynamite USA card. He was the main event ahead of a rematch between Royce Gracie and Sakuraba. In the end he dispatched replacement fighter Min Soo Kim in one minute and eight seconds, in front of the second largest MMA audience in North American history.

Lashley
He started off his MMA career with a quick debut in the MFA promotion last weekend. Lashley dispatched his opponent, Joshua Franklin, in just 41 seconds due to a cut.

Advantage: Lesnar
Lashley was very dominant in his fight, but Lesnar’s debut had all the fan fare in the world. On top of that Min Soo Kim is not a top level fighter, but he is still a few notches above Joshua Franklin.

Training Camps:

Lesnar
For his first few MMA fights Lesnar has been training out of Minnesota Martial Arts with Greg Nelson and Marty Morgan. He has also brought in former division one wrestling champion Cole Konrad, jiu jitsu world champion Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros, and Yamma runner up Chris Tuchscherer.

Lashley
Lashley has been training with the world famous American Top Team. There he receives instruction from Ricardo Liborio and Howard Davis Jr, among others. There are also some great heavyweights for him to train with like Jeff Monson and Antonio Silva.

Advantage: Lashley
American Top Team lives up to its name since it is one of the best teams in the country. Lesnar’s team seems to be a lot more focused on him, which is good, but Lashley is provided with much more diversity of training.

Of course a match up between these two is still a ways off. However, it is hard not to get excited thinking about a potential match up between these two very athletic, very big heavyweights. If Lashley has a work ethic even close to Lesnar and is able to progress at a similar pace, then we can only keep our fingers crossed that these two next-generation heavyweights meet in the center of the cage one day.

-Richard Mann

One thought on “Breaking down Lesnar vs. Lashley”
  1. Im not sure if I would say Advantage Lesnar for training camps, as Comprido is one of, if not the best Jiu-Jitsu trainer in the world. It would be an interesting matchup at best, but Im afraid it would turn into a drawn out wrestling match, if Lashley is lucky. Brock’s size and strength is still greater than lashleys and his wrestling is ten times better. Lesnar wins, hands down. I should also add, Lesnar started his career fighting the top Heavyweights, while Lashley is no where near that caliber of opponent nor is he fighting anyone even close to Lesnars level or his opponents.

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