Brock Lesnar looks like one of the comic strip heroes in the Mighty Thor comic book with his bulging muscles and blonde crew cut hair.

Image has always been a focal point in Lesnar’s career.

Lesnar starred as an All-American amateur wrestler in college, then as a pro wrestler for World Wrestling Entertainment. Whether he liked it or not, Lesnar has been primed for entertainment value to the fullest extent.

Lesnar doesn’t care about image. Dispensing with tune-ups, Lesnar will face former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion Frank Mir (10-3) at UFC 81: “Breaking Point,” in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The fight card takes place Saturday and will be shown on pay-per-view television.

The South Dakota native has a zeal for competition and doesn’t care what he sacrifices to obtain it.

“Since I was five years old I’ve been a competitor,” said Lesnar (1-0). “It’s in your blood.”

Though winners in pro wrestling are pre-determined, it’s still a dangerous sport that can result in life-threatening if not career-threatening injuries.

It’s one of the seldom talked about pitfalls of pro wrestling. Dan Madigan, author of “Mondo Lucha A Go-Go”, a book on Mexican pro wrestling, said the general public is largely unaware of the injuries and dangers pro wrestlers face daily.

“That’s real blood you see in the ring,” said Madigan about pro wrestling injuries. “The stuff they do is unbelievable. It takes a toll on your body.”

While performing a stunt called the “shooting star press” — where a wrestler climbs on the top strand of the ring ropes and hurls himself in the air like a human catapult — Lesnar performed the stunt and missed his target. He was seriously injured.

“Brock got a concussion doing a shooting star press,” said Madigan, who also scripted wrestling bouts and has written a screenplay. “One time out of 50 he was off and landed on his head. Any other man would have broken his neck.”

The daily grind endured by pro wrestlers is another forgotten aspect. It’s a blue-collar job with little rest.

“Three hundred days a year they are working,” said Madigan of pro wrestlers. “It’s unbelievable. It takes a toll on your family and on your body.”

Lesnar realized that his dreams of competing in a non-scripted situation were narrowing, so he left WWE and tried the National Football League. That didn’t work quite right because of an incident involving an injury by a Kansas City Chief quarterback he sacked during a scrimmage. So he left that sport too.

“This is something I wanted to do a long time ago,” Lesnar, 30, said, who first signed with K-1 and took part in his first MMA fight last June in Los Angeles. He won by technical knockout. “Everybody is talking about UFC.”

Former UFC champion Mir becomes the first true test for Lesnar. A few years back Mir suffered a near fatal motorcycle accident and has not fully recovered since returning to the Octagon. He knows Lesnar poses a real threat.

“There’s a reason Brock Lesnar had a long career in amateur wrestling. He has legitimate roots to be an MMA fighter,” said Mir, who was never beaten as a heavyweight champion but was forced to vacate the title because of injury. “Lesnar has all the tools to be on that platform.”

Mir is not the only MMA veteran acknowledging Lesnar’s legitimacy.

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