He was supposed to fight the heavy-handed New Zealander Mark Hunt in the co-main event of UFC 200 on Saturday, a momentous return to the sport after last featuring all the way back in December 2011. So much rested on the bout, which had been scheduled at all costs after the fiasco around Conor McGregor. A whopping paycheck was already assured, but up against the ‘King of Walk-Offs’ the result hung in the balance, and the future of the UFC’s former Heavyweight Champion remained firmly on the table.
But neither the UFC, nor Dana White, nor most of all Brock Lesnar had counted on the Raven. Lesnar’s big mistake occurred without him ever getting to set foot back inside the octagon. He chose to make his way to the ring to the tune of ‘Enter Sandman’ by Metallica, and this stirred old sentiments, old sorrows, a deep anguish and anger in the heart of Scott Levy, who memorably feuded with The Sandman in Extreme Championship Wrestling in the mid-1990s.
Then, an issue between the beer-swilling, Singapore cane-brandishing Sandman and Raven lasted for more than a year, incorporating Raven’s ‘Nest’ of followers and The Sandman’s ex-wife and son, and culminating with Raven crucifying The Sandman by tying him to a cross and placing a barbed-wire crown on his head. But they traded the ECW World Heavyweight Championship back and forth, and inflicted upon one another the sort of wounds and searing memories which never heal.
So it was no surprise when Lesnar emerged on Saturday from the backstage area, into the main body of the T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, that the Raven was lying in wait. A firm shove from behind had Lesnar wondering, and when he turned around he was met right between the eyes with the cold steel of a firmly-planted folding chair. Lesnar rallied, but Raven countered with a drop toe-hold down onto the concrete, before an Evenflow DDT put paid to what was supposed to be a stellar evening.
Levy crouched against one of the fan barricades in his tattered denim, rocking sullenly back and forth. This was meant to be a celebration, a showcase of the steps the sport has taken towards the mainstream jam-packed with its biggest stars. UFC 200 was supposed to be both victory lap and coming-out party, full of bloody fists and sky-high-fives, it should have been the greatest event in mixed martial arts history, but quoth the Raven ‘Nevermore’.
