UFC Legend Bas Rutten appeared on Submission Radio this week and notably discussed the Brock Lesnar/Daniel Cormier bout among other topics.
Like many fighters and fans in the MMA world, the former UFC Heavyweight champion just doesn't believe that Lesnar deserves a title shot right out of the gate. The Lesnar/Cormier bout is clearly a big money match for the UFC, but the current WWE Universal Champion's past failure of a drug test has many shaking their heads at the decision to bring him back for such a prominent fight.
Below are the statements from the UFC Hall of famer:
“Yeah, it’s not honest. I wouldn’t say he deserves it, but it is what it is. It’s a fight that everybody wants to see and I think he’s gonna face a guy who’s gonna beat him. I truly believe that DC’s gonna beat him. The guy’s so tough. The only knockout loss was a high kick. We know that Brock is not gonna throw a high kick knockout and he doesn’t have the tools to set him up with striking that Jon Jones had – who by the way tested positive for that fight, that’s why they overturned the whole thing. But still, he doesn’t have those striking qualities.”
“I think once you get clipped for something, for PEDs, it’s one of those things that you think, if a guy gets caught is it really the first time? Right? I mean, look at him, how big he is. So, it’s probably not… you know, you’re thinking about that and that might tarnish it. But for a guy to come in and only have a few fights and fighting for the title and then winning a title, I mean, people have to respect that. And he didn’t test positive for that fight, so he’s a truly impressive guy, he really is. But, I see a big guy like that, once they start shying away from punches, you know, it doesn’t look good as well. I think if he would spend more time on Mixed Martial Arts for two years, really get the striking under control so he doesn’t shy away from punches anymore and actually goes in for an attack and not push but start punching with that strength that he has and explosive power – because he does have it, it’s not like he’s got the slow twitch fibers, he’s got the fast twitch fibers, so he’s an explosive guy who can do it – but he just has to learn it, and I think once he would do that, yeah, then he could really be a force to reckon with. But I don’t know, with everything around it, still to pull off a heavyweight champion in the world in the UFC, I think it’s pretty impressive, especially after such a short amount of fights.”