Brock Lesnar, without a doubt, has had one of the most successful careers in the world of fighting. Whether it is in the MMA octagon or in the WWE’s squared circle, he has been on the top of the mountain and is a must see attraction every time he steps into either arena.
He is considered as a freak of nature considering his sheer size and agility and this has helped him jump to great heights in both worlds of fighting. When looking at him for the first time it’s hard to believe he could ever be considered an underdog walking into a match, but believe it or not he has.
Here we take a look at 5 times Brock Lesnar was an underdog walking into a bout.
#5 Brock Lesnar vs Hulk Hogan – SmackDown 2002
14 years ago in 2002, WWE aired a taped episode of SmackDown. The show was based around a main event where Brock Lesnar would take on hulk Hogan with his title shot at the upcoming SummerSlam main event on the line.
What made Brock an underdog for this match here you ask? Well, Hogan certainly had a shaky history with putting talent over, especially younger talent who weren’t “on his level”. People also assumed that The Rock and Hulk were to have a rematch from their WrestleMania X8 match.
What happened next, almost nobody expected to see. Brock Lesnar in so many words decimated his opponent. Hogan did get some offense and a comeback, but Lesnar hit the F5, put Hogan in a bearhug, and won by technical submission when Hogan passed out. Then he came back, bloodied Hogan with a chair, and painted his own chest with Hogan's plasma. This was the moment Brock Lesnar officially became scary.
#4 Brock Lesnar vs Alistair Overeem – UFC 141
At UFC 141 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Brock Lesnar headed into his number one contender bout against Alistair Overeem as an underdog for the fight.
Overeem had finally made his way to the UFC after 47 fights and more than a decade in the fight game. Lesnar was just coming off a first round shellacking at the hands of new division champion Cain Velasquez, who survived an onslaught from the “Beast” at UFC 121 to topple the, at that time, former WWE star and capture the crown.
Lesnar also had to deal with a flare-up of diverticulitis. This marked his second bout with the deadly intestinal disease, this one strong enough to force him to get surgery to remove 12 inches of his colon. He hadn’t taken much time to recover from the surgery so was there any wonder he was the underdog in for this fight right?
Lesnar lost this match, his last in the UFC until this year at UFC 200.
#3 Brock Lesnar vs The Rock – SummerSlam 2002
When he debuted on RAW in 2002, Brock Lesnar was billed as the “Next Big Thing”. There really wasn’t much of an argument against that claim as Brock made minced meat of everything he touched. Just four months after his debut he found himself in the WWE Championship main event of the second biggest show of the year against one of the greatest ever, in The Rock.
Yes, it’s true that most people knew The Rock was leaving, and Lesnar was an up and coming star but in the back of everyone’s mind was the fact that Brock was so fresh to the product, how could he win the big one so early? Considering he was so young and not nearly on the level The Rock was and not to mention his age, some people had Brock billed as an underdog for this match.
While it did take some continuous interference from Paul Heyman, Lesnar was able to hit The Rock with an F-5 and become the youngest ever WWE Champion (that record would be beat by Randy Orton 2 years later).
#2 Brock Lesnar vs The Undertaker – WrestleMania XXX
This one has to be one of the biggest shocks to ever happen in the sport of professional wrestling. At WrestleMania XXX the unthinkable happened - Brock beat The Streak. Until this match actually ended it had the feel of any other Undertaker WrestleMania match to that point. Logic stated that Brock would come within an inch of victory only for Taker to overcome the odds and beat The Beast.
Brock obviously walked into this match as the underdog. The Undertaker had a 20-0 streak walking into the match and most fans were sure that the Undertaker would retire undefeated at WrestleMania. Brock ended the streak clean to the shock of everyone watching (including Paul Heyman) and established himself as the most dominant force in sports-entertainment.
#1 Brock Lesnar vs Mark Hunt – UFC 200
Brock Lesnar is a former UFC Heavyweight champion and is widely considered one of the fiercest competitors ever to compete in the UFC.
To the shock of many, Lesnar returned to action in a one-off fight against the knockout-loving Mark Hunt in the co-main event of UFC 200, thanks to WWE allowing him to do so. Brock was a definite underdog for this bout. He hadn’t fought in the UFC since 2011 when he was defeated in the first round by Alistair Overeem as we noted above.
Since Lesnar's last fight, Hunt had knocked out five of the toughest heavyweights walking the planet and was understandably the favourite.
Against all odds Brock ended up beating Hunt in his return match by a judge’s unanimous vote. This could spell a return to the octagon for Brock in the future and maybe he can now walk in as the favourite rather than the underdog.
