R_t_Kraken
Active Roster
I would say don't underestimate Lesner. He's about as focused as they come. He's genuinely a mean, ill tempered person and really a machine.
As sort of outside looking in on MMA (Not really invested in it. Too many wannabe jack offs running around here with Tapout gear and bald heads for me to want to associate with it) I can tell you what Lesner did at the end of the fight helped MMA a LOT. I have never heard of an MMA even being discussed on national sports radio for ONE whole day, not to mention TWO whole days. Lots of that was due to Lesner's antics.
As he said; He is used to performing on VERY large stages and in the WWE he was generally a "heel", or the bad guy (As opposed to a "face", good guy). He just did what he was programed to do. The owner of MMA put a boot up his ***, and, rightly so, but Brock was just doing what he had to do. In the wrestling industry it's called "pop". "Pop" is crowd reaction. It can be cheers, or boos. Doesn't matter which. "Pop" is always good.
Think about it. MMA fans will either want to see Lesner fight and win, or fight and get beat...Sort of like Bisping. Lesner's stuff may well start to bring in the sideline and fringe fans that bring money into the sport, as well as exposure. That's how you get ESPN pimping your product.
I will admit I paid lots closer attention to MMA before and after this event. I'm paying closer attention now. I'm not on board completely yet, but, I can see myself edgeing closer.
While I agree Lesnar is good for the sport and helping it grow leaps and bounds, and the first part of your post is spot on, which is why I'd argue that Lesnar isn't playing a character. I'd argue that he's been more 'real' than most other fighters on the UFC roster.
Reason I say that is because during all of the pre-fight smack talk between himself and Mir, Brock seemed genuinely pissed off. And Mir kept antagonzing. To be honest I think Mir was just trying to hype the fight like many fighters do, understanding that it will increase interest and PPV buys, while Lesnar, still new to the sport was taking it all personally.
You could say, well Lesnar just played his heel character and was seeing it all the way through. Well, if I reflect on the Couture fight it says otherwise. Couture had little negative things to say about Brock, so Brock didn't sya to much to Randy. They just got in there and duked it out, far cry from the build up of Lesnar/Mir.