Brock Lesnar’s UFC debut was a masterful hype job. UFC somehow persuaded Vince McMahon to not only let them use WWE footage of Lesnar but they were able to promote the fight at WWE’s Royal Rumble show in New York. The explanation is that Vince doesn’t see UFC as WWE’s completion so using WWE’s footage is no different from Entertainment Tonight or the NFL wanting clips – it’s all good advertising. Because of this cooperation, UFC didn’t stress the "wrestling is fake – this is real" aspect as hard as they might – they merely implied wrestling is fake with a "this time it’s real" angle. Lesnar himself was less diplomatic and dismissed his WWE tenure in interviews, rubbishing questions about whether he could adapt his pro style to the Octagon. I’d argue that he learned one thing from WWE which will help his MMA career – he performed in front of tens of thousands of people, appeared on live television hundreds of times and so wouldn’t fall victim to the nerves a lot of debuting fighters have when they realise the scale of the show they are now fighting on.

Lesnar’s loss to Frank Mir is on the face of it a disaster. The mainstream sports coverage certainly portrayed it as a bad thing – Lesnar was humbled and UFC’s hoped for breakout heavyweight star is no more. This is nonsense – what happened in those two minutes on Saturday night may well turn out to be the best thing that could possibly have happened. This wasn’t Chuck losing to Keith Jardine – this was UFC as old school wrestling promoters would’ve booked it. Let’s look at the benefits.

Lesnar lost the fight but for the 95% when he was in control he looked awesome. An astonishing blend of speed and power. He took Mir down at will and pounded whim (almost) senseless. Had Lesnar not been unlucky enough to catch Mir with an illegal blow to the back of the head, forcing a stand up and the loss of his early momentum, the fight could’ve been over in the first minute. After the break, Lesnar took him down again and continued his attack. His movement on the ground was staggering considering the size of Brock Lesnar. In a division where the sluggish heavyweight reigns, Lesnar’s lightweight manoeuvring was a sight to behold. Whether he could’ve kept this pace up for three rounds is debatable but you cannot doubt his obvious skills.

He got caught with a knee bar and tapped out. It was a rookie mistake. This was only his second fight – his first against any kind of decent opposition. Lesnar shrugged off Mir’s arm-lock attempts (the same arm-locks which broke Tim Sylvia’s arm) as his arms were simply too thick and strong to control. But he left a leg behind and Mir is one of the best in the world at leg-locks. There is no disgrace in tapping out despite what the macho media might believe. It’s probably a good thing that Lesnar has tapped – it is all part of the learning process. Chuck Liddell lost his second UFC fight – his first against name opposition – by submission. Matt Hughes was tapped out twice by Dennis Hallman before he became the finished Matt Hughes who dominated the welterweight division for years. Those two losses had a combined fight time of 37 seconds. Tito Ortiz’s first night in the Octagon ended with him tapping out to Guy Mezger. I could go on plundering Sherdog.com but the point is that losing is no big deal – Hughes, Liddell and Ortiz all came back stronger and had spectacular careers. Lesnar at least was able to dominate the fight before getting caught.

The match also makes Frank Mir a someone again. After his motorbike accident – which cost him the heavyweight title and eighteen months of his athletic prime – he was out of shape, unmotivated and seemed to be fighting only to pay off his medical bills before he could go away and do something else. He came into this fight in the best shape he’s been in since his return – he looked like the old Frank Mir. He has tasted main event victory for the first time in four years and hopefully that will be the spark which relights his fire. Mir is perhaps one win away from a title shot. Mir vs Nogueira would be a fascinating battle of BJJ masters.

It also sets up a rematch in a year or so. When a fight ends and people immediately want to see a rematch you know you’re onto a good thing. Lesnar dominated – what if he hadn’t accidentally fouled him, what if it hadn’t been stood up, what if Lesnar had simply backed off instead of tangling himself in Mir’s legs? And so on – what ifs make for intriguing fights. If this show did 500,000 buys then a rematch (assuming neither man crashes and burns) could do 600,000 or higher. There was nothing here to make anyone think a rematch would suck.

We shouldn’t discount the value of this loss in preventing Lesnar being rushed into contention too early. It would be absurd if Lesnar was getting a world title shot with a 2-0 or 3-0 record. But with very little of substance in the heavyweight division that might’ve been the direction they went in. What Lesnar needs right now is fights which challenge him, not title matches he hasn’t earned. Pushing him to the moon could’ve killed his career. MMA fans still consider Lesnar to be an outsider – an intruder from another world – and his being pushed at the expense of people who have been fighting for years would’ve alienated him from the core audience forever. Pro wrestling fans always hate it when someone who hasn’t paid their dues – be it Lawrence Taylor, David Arquette or Dennis Rodman – get main event slots or titles ahead of more deserving people and this isn’t any different. Lesnar needs to pay his dues and win some fights before he’ll be able to shake off the label of being an outsider in the sport.

There is no reason to think that Brock won’t bounce back from this. His next fight is crucial – a second loss and all bets are off. Ideally, his next fight would be an undercard match (perhaps even on a Spike TV special) against someone like Eddie Sanchez. After that, a fight with the loser of the Heath Herring vs Cheik Kongo fight. Finally, a victory over Tim Sylvia or Andrei Arlovski in his fourth fight and then he’ll be in line for a number one contender’s match. Unless of course Frank Mir is the champion by then in which case I’d give him a title match because the have a history.

Brock Lesnar could be the greatest heavyweight in UFC history. If he is, it will be in no small way because of last Saturday night. A boring win is often less valuable to a fighter than a memorable loss. He came out of that cage a star and as long as he learns from his mistakes he’ll go into the cage next time a better fighter. God help his opponent.