Lesnar, a former NCAA Division I national wrestling champion, is the first WWE star to fight in the UFC. But he’s never really been embraced by fans.
But any indifference turned to extreme loathing after Lesnar defeated Frank Mir via second-round TKO in Las Vegas. Immediately after the stoppage, Lesnar stood over him and hurled insults.
When the crowd booed, Lesnar flipped them off. When interviewed as part of the pay-per-view broadcast, he criticized Bud Light, one of the UFC’s biggest sponsors, because company executives apparently declined to sponsor him personally. In the celebrating mood, Lesnar then pronounced to the sold-out crowd that he was going home to celebrate and “get on” his wife.
“Tito became a heel because the stuff that was happening behind the scene was real,” White said. “But what [Lesnar] was doing out there was not real. You don’t have to act like somebody you’re not. This isn’t the WWE.”
Ortiz is gone from the organization. But White doesn’t want Lesnar to meet the same fate.
“It’s not who he is,” White said of Lesnar’s antics. “If he were a (jerk), I would tell you, ‘This guy is uncontrollable, he’s an idiot, and I don’t know what to do with this guy.’ That’s not the case with him at all. He’s not. He’s a smart guy.”
In the post-fight news conference, Lesnar offered remorse for his behavior — with a Bud Light in hand.
“I apologize,” said Lesnar, who lost to Mir in his UFC debut last year. “I acted very unprofessional after the fight.
“I was in the entertainment business for a while, and I suppose there’s a little bit of that left in me. You guys ask me all the time is there anything I can drag over from the WWE. I suppose you saw a little of that.”
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