The election is over. Enough already. Go cry or raise your fist on someone else's time.
Sure, there's a few givens. One: Sarah Palin is hot. Two: Barack Obama is not only a synonym for change, he's all things change. That seasonal color change in leaves? That new pair of undies you change into after you sweat through your boxer briefs mid day? The way your voice changes and you fittingly get kicked out of Menudo? Obama. All Obama.
And most importantly, three: the election, the victory of Obama over McCain, the young and inexperienced over the old, crafty Veteran stands for so much more. Sure it shows where the U.S. has grown in acceptance and trust, but more importantly it's an analogy of what's possibly to come on Saturday night as ex-WWE champ and Aryan fighting machine Brock Lesnar takes on UFC legend Randy Couture in the headlining title bout of the 91st installment of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Much like Barack Obama and his "life changing," president-to-be keynote speech at the '04 Democratic Convention in Boston, Mass., Lesnar has set the UFC world ablaze since his admission into Dana White's fight club.
Drawing in hoards of new fans, apparel and interviews, he was dubbed as the potential mixed-martial arts heavyweight commander-in-chief and is proudly worn like those nifty little Obama shirts, but with a lot more tribal influence and swordsmanship.
Despite some solid competition from Frank Mir, who knee-barred his way out of a beatdown fans haven't seen the likes of since Zack Gowan and his one-legged army made Lesnar's "S list," Lesnar has destroyed the competition. Wrecking Min Soo Kim in just over a minute and turning The Texas Crazy Horse Heath Herring's face into mush, breaking his orbital bone with one punch and setting him on the DL for over six months, he's more than made up for his Mir misstep.
But now the real moment is upon him. He beat Hillary; now it's time for McCain. In this election, won with fists, not electorally selected bias, our John McCain is just as American and just as experienced. Randy Couture, the UFC's maverick and appropriately titled Captain America, has taken part in 24 wars within the octagon, winning 16 of them and becoming the only five-time champ in the company's history.
And he has his own clothing line. Take that, www.obamashirts.com.
After Couture won his fifth title from Tim Sylvia and retained it against Gabriel Gonzaga in '07, Couture retired from the UFC.
Walking away with his belt on his back and a legal case with the UFC ever so slightly tarnishing his sheen in the eyes of UFC, Couture left fans aching for more from a legendary career with a poorly written ending.
And thus we have tomorrow night's battle. Lesnar, in under a year, has created the word of mouth reputation and support it took Couture his entire career to solidify. His shoulder shake and "Shout at the Devil"-backed brawls have stuck a thorn in the side of the UFC's most accomplished fighter and have lured him out of retirement to fight for not only his reputation, but his generation, as he's a full 14 years older than Lesnar, coming in at the ripe age of 45.
Can Lesnar ride his wave of young support and bring the pain to Couture? Will his momentum carry him to an explosive victory like WWE Unforgiven '02's Hell in a Cell, catapulting his now MMA career into the stratosphere? Or will he land face first like his ill-attempted shooting star press at Wrestlemania XIX and lay in the shadow of Couture's classically trained and aged professionalism?
Who will come out victorious on the only date in November that really matters?
I voted McCain once. Will I do it again? Wouldn't you like to know.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
