Bad-guy role perfect fit for Lesnar

For a second there, I wondered what political office Brock Lesnar was about to accept ...

"I stand before you," Lesnar said Saturday night, "a humble champion."

Oh no.

Anything but that.

You don't stop the biggest heavyweight matchup in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship because one guy is in all sorts of trouble early, and it's a good thing Lesnar survived to compete for a second round at UFC 116.

He is the most compelling star in an organization with all sorts of interesting storylines, a fact that will be enhanced with Lesnar submitting Shane Carwin at 2:19 of the second round at the MGM Grand Garden.

Carwin is the more popular fighter.

Lesnar is better for the UFC as heavyweight champion.

Hey, even the roughest, toughest, meanest cat around is going to gain a new perspective when an intestinal illness threatens his career and life. Lesnar hadn't fought since UFC 100 last July.

And yet he as the bad guy always will be better for the sport. Lesnar plays the part to perfection. He's also fortunate to be wearing that championship belt today, having spent most of the first round on the ground taking punch after punch to the head from Carwin.

Dana White said he has no interest in Fedor Emelianenko after the Russian heavyweight lost for the first time in nearly 10 years, that Fedor wouldn't be among the top 10 UFC heavyweights.

He would be among the top 10. Probably the top five. And at the end of the day, White as UFC president has built his company into a mega-success because he knows good business.

Lesnar next will fight Cain Velasquez. That's good business. Lesnar against Fedor is great business, despite the low TV ratings and number of tickets sold that White spoke about last week regarding Emelianenko's last fight.

The UFC brand and Lesnar would carry those parts. Let's just hope if it eventually happens, the humble politician whose head still is bigger than Malta has regained his nastiness.

"I'm still the toughest SOB around, baby!" Lesnar said.

Now that's more like it.

Other 116 observations ...

Stephan Bonnar. The American Psycho.

I love this guy.

No wonder White continues to throw the Las Vegas resident into the octagon. While there remains a level of allegiance to Bonnar for his epic fight against Forrest Griffin in the Ultimate Fighter I Finale -- a unanimous decision for Griffin -- you can't discount the fact Bonnar is a madman.

He had lost three straight and five of seven coming into 116, where he scored a technical knockout at 3:08 of the second round against Krzysztof Soszynski. It avenged a loss to Soszynski at UFC 110, when the referee missed a head butt against Bonnar that stopped the fight.

I wasn't sure Bonnar would win another fight and didn't care. White should sign him to a lifetime contract. Bonnar is that fun to watch -- a guy who takes as many or more punches than he throws. He's a lunatic in there.

I'm pretty sure Bonnar is bleeding before leaving his locker room for a fight. I'm pretty sure he wakes up in the middle of the night bleeding from turning over in bed. He had White and Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell on their feet cheering Saturday. Then he won and did some strange pose as if praying, probably to stop the bleeding.

"You have no idea how (happy) I am," Bonnar told the crowd afterward. "I don't quit. I just kept throwing punches. No one was going to take this fight from me this time. I know I'm sick in the head and need help, but I mean it, I love you guys!" ...

I wonder if it's not too late to get Chris Leben on the UFC card in San Diego on Aug. 1. It seems this short rest thing is fine for the middleweight who, like Bonnar, fights as if he's a few bagels short of a dozen.

Leben took the fight against Yoshihiro Akiyama two weeks after a knockout win at the Palms and proceeded to beat the guy known as Sexyama by tapout in the third round.

Sexyama is from Japan, where he and wife Shiho are considered a power couple as one might describe Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Sexyama is a bit bizarre, entering the arena to the classical Italian piece "Con et partiro," to the elegant voices of Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli.

Then he met a gutsy, go-for-broke kid named Chris Leben and found himself in a third-round triangle choke.

Buona sera, Sexyama.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618.