Analysis: Finding Brock Lesnar’s appeal at the UFC 200 news conference

By Case Keefer (contact)

Thursday, July 7, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Brock Lesnar hulked over Daniel Cormier as they sat next to each other Wednesday, making it hard to believe they ever held championships in the same weight class.

Miesha Tate looked miniature, hardly visible in the monster of Lesnar’s shadow on the other side. The 38-year-old former UFC heavyweight champion has a way of creating a misleading scale with his 6-foot-3, 290-pound frame.

He makes for the perfect mascot of what the UFC hopes will go down as the biggest event in its history, Saturday’s UFC 200 at T-Mobile Arena. The stature Lesnar has added to the card looms as large as his physique.

It’s hard to believe the UFC only announced Lesnar’s comeback a little more than a month ago because it’s impossible to imagine International Fight Week 2016 without his presence. His bout against Mark Hunt was scheduled as Saturday’s co-main event, but it was second to none in terms of interest level even before Jon Jones' potential doping violation bumped it into the main event.

“It’s been a while since Brock fought,” Hunt said over a wave of cheers. “But I’m willing to play punch-face with anyone.”

UFC President Dana White has always been careful not to promote “sideshow fights,” and would surely object to Lesnar vs. Hunt being categorized as such. But that’s exactly what it is, and for that, there should be no shame.

If UFC 200 is like a circus, the other rides just don’t seem as enthralling with whispers circulating on what could happen inside the tent of the freakish giants. Hundreds of thousands are lining up to purchase Lesnar vs. Hunt, and they aren’t doing it for the traditional thrill of the UFC.

The fight holds no larger implications in the heavyweight division. Plucking Lesnar out of professional wrestling for a one-off appearance and pitting him against Hunt, who’s lost to both the current champion and most recent former champion within the last 20 months, ensures as much.

It’s a reminder that championships and superiority aren’t everything when it comes to selling fights. Personalities matter most.

And despite having lost the last two fights during his initial time in the UFC, Lesnar remains intimidating and temperamental. Although he was in a much better mood Wednesday — saying he was, “soaking it all in,” at UFC 200 — than he usually was in his first stint with the UFC, Lesnar still emitted danger.

Unease washed over most of the the crowd during moments of silence when Lesnar frequently used a cloth to dab sweat off his face while he contemplated how to answer questions. The harmless gesture felt somehow more threatening than any spat light-heavyweight headliners Jones and Cormier could get into, even though they once notoriously engaged in an actual potentially harmful brawl about 100 yards away.

“I feel (expletive) awesome,” Lesnar sneered after disliking a question about his health.

Some weren’t falling for the meanest-man-on-Earth routine, as a couple fans yelled at Lesnar that Hunt was going to knock him out. The outbursts showed the UFC couldn’t have done any better in picking an opponent.

In Hunt, the promotion picked perhaps the only fighter with as much as a real-life, folk-hero origin story as Lesnar. While Lesnar wrestled his way off a rural South Dakota dairy farm in his youth, the 42-year-old Hunt fought in the streets of New Zealand.

When the two approached each other for their face-off photo, the crowd held off on the high-pitched squeals and whistles saved for the rest of the UFC 200 fighters. There were more shrieks and howls, like noises heard at a horror-movie premiere.

That was one of several times where Lesnar’s unique drawing power was apparent. In another instance, Lesnar started reflecting on UFC 100 seven years ago when he attacked the event’s sponsor after avenging a loss to Frank Mir.

Lesnar infamously vowed he was going to drink Coors Light in celebration because, “Bud Light won’t pay me nothin'.”

“I actually enjoyed two different kinds that night,” Lesnar said. “One for the public to see, and one for me to enjoy.”

That’s when White interrupted and commanded, “Stop asking him questions.”

White was mostly joking, but that didn’t subdue the irony. Three months back, White scrapped the announced UFC 200 main event because one of the fighters, Conor McGregor, wouldn’t travel to Las Vegas to field questions.

Lesnar wasn't initially in the same position on the card as McGregor, but he’s very much filled the headliner void.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.