Brock Lesnar is one of the most accomplished athletes of this generation. A former NCAA winner, Lesnar became a household name during his first run with the WWE. He quickly rose to global stardom after winning the WWE Championship aged just 25. Shortly afterward, he took a break from pro wrestling to pursue other interests.

In 2008, he decided to give MMA a shot and joined the UFC. Despite his amateur wrestling background, many people in UFC saw Lesnar as only a pro wrestling guy who wanted to cash in on the rising popularity of the promotion. Indeed, there was a lot of skepticism about him being successful in the UFC. However, one man didn’t pay heed to all and wasn’t taking Lesnar for granted.

UFC pitted Brock Lesnar in a very tough fight for his debut in the octagon. They had Lesnar go up against established MMA fighter and former UFC Champion Frank Mir. Although Mir bested Lesnar in their fight, he recently said that Lesnar was a legitimate tough guy and quite intimidating, physically.

He also said people who thought Lesnar was just a pro wrestler couldn’t be more wrong.

Frank Mir said Brock Lesnar was the real deal

Over the years, there has been no shortage of athletes from other sports crossing into WWE. Fans usually welcome and respect their presence in the ring. However, this hasn’t been the case for pro wrestlers trying their luck in other fields, especially MMA. So when Brock Lesnar arrived in UFC, many fans and even fighters brushed him off as just another pro wrestling guy.

Lesnar made his UFC debut against Frank Mir, a former UFC Champion. Despite an impressive showing by the former WWE Champion who exerted brute force and almost knocked out Mir, the experienced UFC fighter prevailed and won the bout. Many fans saw this as a foregone conclusion and an easy win for Mir, but that wasn’t the case.

Recently, in an interview on a YouTube channel, Frank Mir revealed how he didn’t think of Lesnar as just a pro wrestler because of his amateur wrestling background and the fact that he had been a national champion.

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He said many people were not giving him enough credit for beating Lesnar because he came from WWE. Mir said “I wasn’t giving credit for it. I have people like Matt Hughes that came up to me backstage and was like, ‘hey it’s MMA versus pro wrestling’. And I remember sitting there going no it’s not this isn’t a pro wrestler. This guy’s a legitimate killer. I mean, like if you fail to see there’s a national champion wrestle, like no, man, get out here.”

He also said Lesnar was intimidating even to look at during their weigh-in. Frank Mir’s idea about Brock Lesnar a legitimately tough didn’t prove to be off the mark. The Beast would go on to beat the likes of Shane Carwin, and Randy Couture, winning the UFC Championship and even avenging his debut defeat to Frank Mir at UFC 100.

Indeed, Brock Lesnar proved that he’s more than just a pro wrestling guy looking to make a quick buck and proved his mettle against some of the toughest fighters in the world.

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