To truly enjoy the WWE, one must forget about the fact that it is not all real. It is obvious that a person could not take such a physical beating and continue to fight, but this is all part of the WWE.

However, it must be understood that these “performers” are truly athletes. Their bodies are abused, even though most people view the business as entirely fake. The athletes risk their bodies to entertain their fans, and to stay in the business.

A comparison to pro sports is a special teams player in the NFL. Most special teamers are fighting for a roster spot and will do anything to prove themselves. This includes trying to throw huge blocks that can result in injuries to the neck or other parts of the body. All of this risk can bring reward, but at a high cost. The reward earned by the wrestlers in the WWE is popularity among fans. Even if they achieve heal or villain status they are still popular.

This aspect of heroes and villains is something that is seen in all sports. If the Miami Heat were a wrestling stable, they would be booed out of nearly every arena, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t popular.

The other side of popularity features a wrestler who is loved by the masses. This single person gives people someone to cheer for. This is no different to cheering for a sports team. The result of the match can either bring joy or disappointment. A die-hard John Cena fan, who is also a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan, will be just as upset if he loses a match as if the Red Sox lost.

The predetermined outcome of a WWE match is one that makes many people dislike the business. Yes, the outcome is previously determined, but do the fans know what it is? The outcome of a wrestling match is unknown before it actually ends, just as is any other sporting event.

A basketball game is never fixed (most of the time), but the outcome is never known to fans before the completion of the game. Even though wrestling is knowingly fixed, fans cannot determine the outcome of each match beforehand without watching and following along.

I realize that wrestling will never be accepted as a sport along with baseball, football, and basketball, but it should not be seen as something that has nothing to do with sports. Just sit down and watch an episode of Monday Night Raw and the similarities will become evident.

As the sport grows in popularity, fans demand an image. Basketball has seen guys like Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kobe, and LeBron. Football has boasted poster-boys such as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning in recent times.

So who is, or may become, the face of MMA?

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True MMA loyalists may say Fedor Emilenenko. While I would agree that pound-for-pound he may be the best fighter in MMA, he has yet to join the bandwagon of what has become the juggernaut of MMA, The UFC.

So, looking at the talent that seems to ooze from the UFC, who could it possibly be?

How about a guy who after just 4 professional fights was given a shot at, and won, the UFC Heavyweight Title?

That Guy is Brock Lesnar.

Brock was an All-American wrestler in his college days at Minnesota, and transformed himself quickly into what became one of the most popular wrestlers in Vince McMahon’s version of Motley Crue’s White Trash Circus, the WWE. He was “crowned” the youngest champion in WWE history, and given  the nickname “The Next Big Thing”.

But Lesnar walked away from the WWE in 2004 for a short stint in the NFL as a lineman for the Minnesota Vikings. After being cut before the end of the preseason, Lesnar contemplated his next move, eventually turning to MMA.

His first UFC fight pitted him against UFC headliner Frank Mir, Heavyweight Champion, in the UFC. He came out firing, but inexperience took over as Frank Mir would eventually submit him with a knee bar in the first round.

Lesnar would bounce back quickly, defeating Heath Herring and Randy Couture, securing himself a rematch against Frank Mir at UFC 100, this time for Mir’s title.

Lesnar learned from his mistakes in his first bout with Mir, and would control Mir on the ground, eventually securing a win via TKO. Lesnar was the champ after only four fights in the UFC.

He then made a string of controversial comments and gestures: flipping off the crowd, talking trash to Mir, mentioning that he may even “get on top of his wife” later that evening, and putting the cherry on top by denouncing the main sponsor for UFC 100, Bud Light, by saying “they won’t pay me nothin’” then proceding to promote his sponsor, Coors Light. Lesnar would later apologize for his actions.

Here’s the point: agree or disagree, Brock Lesnar has become the face of the UFC, and in turn, the face of MMA. Whether you love him or hate him, that’s the point. He’s young, He’s exciting. He’s controversial. Don’t expect any of that to change any time soon.

Everyone knows who he is, and whether he is liked or not does not matter. This truly makes Brock Lesnar — already The Next Big Thing — the face of MMA.

Let’s start with the news from the reigning champions of MMA, the UFC.

UFC 100 would be a huge event no matter what was on the card. The number 100 is a milestone many tried to keep MMA from reaching. Just think back to the late 90′s, when John McCain was petitioning to get MMA banned in the US, the UFC was just getting out of it’s “No Holds Barred” era, and many people viewed the sport as “human cock fighting”. Say what you will about the Feritta brothers, Dana White, and the TapouT Crew (one of whom passed away this week), but without them MMA would have never made it this far.

Just over a month ago it seemed White and company planned on relying on the number “100″ itself to sell the event. They shot down rumors of all titles being on the line that night, they made clear the superfight of our generation between Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre wouldn’t happen, and they had planned to have Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir have their rematch to unify the Heavyweight title at UFC 98. Well what a difference a month makes.

None of this is “official” yet, but the current plans for UFC 100 have Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping facing off in the traditional battle of Ultimate Fighter coaches, GSP is supposed to defend his title against Thiago Alves, and of course the much delayed rematch between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar for the unification of the UFC Heavyweight Title.

While the UFC is trying to make UFC 100 something special, they still had a UFC 98 that was missing a main event. It was initially announced that if Quintin “Rampage” Jackson defeated Keith Jardine at UFC 96 he would face off with “Sugar” Rashad Evans for the UFC’s Light Heavyweight Title. Rampage defeated Jardine, had a face off with Evans immediately following the fight, and promptly had to pull out of the fight.

It appears Rampage will be undergoing surgery on his jaw to fix an injury suffered during training for his bout against Wanerlei Silva last December. Now Evans is set to face off against Lyoto Machida. While it is much to early to make predictions, I can tell you that the champion is the early underdog in this fight. Not that I would ever gamble online, but if I did, I may have already taken Evans at +160 in this one.

In order to move away from UFC news, I would like to mention that I will be attending Wrestlemania 25 on April 5th in Houston, Texas. What does this have to do with MMA you ask? Let me tell you, part of this week’s big news involved two former WWF/E champions.

Former UFC Heavyweight and WWF Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock was supposed to face the former WWE US and ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley at the upcoming Roy Jones Jr.-promoted Boxing/MMA March Badness event. Well, Ken Shamrock has since been suspended for a year from fighting within the US due to testing positive for steroids. Lashley is now scheduled to face off against Clay Guidas’ bigger, not-as-talented brother Jason. Lashley has come out in the last few days saying he wouldn’t mind taking the Shamrock fight to Japan where they don’t uphold US suspensions.

My last little bit of news involves two of the most entertaining fighters in MMA.

Frank Shamrock (adoptive and estranged brother of Ken) will be facing off against perpetual menace to society Nick Diaz. For the record, I am a Frank Shamrock fan. I want to see him fight and I enjoy his spirited verbal sparring most of the time. Nick Diaz I see as a person who has no respect for the sport and the prototype of all that is wrong with meat head fans/fighters. That being said, I am super excited that Strikeforce is making this match-up happen. It could turn into the most entertaining build up to a match since Ali Foreman. As we get closer to the April 11th Showtime fight I will preview more, but for now I will just leave you with quotes from both men. These come courtesy of Cagepotato.com:

“Someone asked me the other day how my comeback was going so I guess I’ve come back. I love fighting. I love this art. I want to thank Nick Diaz for the opportunity and just warn him that when I punch his head and he lands in the second row he’ll need someone to catch him.” — Frank Shamrock

“Frank can talk all he wants, but I’m going to beat him up. Let’s see how much he fights back.’’ — Nick Diaz