Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

LAS VEGAS - One look at Brock Lesnar tells a story.

He’s massive, in the sort of way comic book artists draw up heroes. His fists are so big he requires a size-XXXXL glove. His body takes up enough space that ordinary-sized people around him tend to look like satellites orbiting the earth.

In short, he looks like a dude that can wreak some serious havoc. And he certainly has done so, leaving carnage in his athletic wake through his past endeavors. Come Saturday night, the former NCAA wrestling champion, former professional wrestling star, former NFL aspirant, and current No. 1 UFC heavyweight contender will have his sights set on damaging the Babe Ruth of mixed martial arts: Randy Couture.

Couture, coming off a 15-month layoff due to contract issues and a legal fight, was never stripped of the UFC heavyweight title, and so Lesnar, after only three pro fights, finds himself in the position of being one win away from being the sport’s king.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me,” Lesnar said from a training room at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. “No one in my position would turn this down. Dana White, Zuffa and the UFC put on fights people want to see. Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture for the heavyweight title is a fight people want to see. You can’t take that away from me, Randy or the UFC.”

Lesnar likes being big. He likes being the bully in a fight, and knowing that on top of it all, he’s probably a better athlete than you, too. Lesnar ran a 4.75 in the 40-yard dash during his tryout with the Minnesota Vikings. That is considered a very good time for a 290-pound defensive lineman, and Lesnar ran it despite not being fully healed from a motorcycle accident suffered two months earlier. In fact, most of his measurables were comparable to those of No. 1 draft pick Mario Williams.

But Lesnar hadn’t played football since high school and was too green, and besides, team sports were never his forte. After turning down an NFL Europe assignment, Lesnar had an epiphany of sorts. He was big, he was strong, and had an unquestionable wrestling pedigree. He needed a job, and the UFC is always in hiring mode when it comes to certified ass-kickers. From the beginning, it was a perfect match.

“He’s such a great athlete,” says Greg Nelson, Lesnar’s head trainer. “We said, ‘Wow, he’s got all the qualities you need to be a champion.’ It’s his work ethic more than anything. He has the ability to want to learn, and that’s a huge thing. And to see a guy that size with that much speed, yeah, you’re looking at one of the more extraordinary fighters out there.”

Lesnar knows, however, that the experienced champion Couture will not whither or even shy away from the challenge in front of him. He may not fully choose to engage Lesnar in the battle that Lesnar wants to fight, but instead use the tricks that only true match experience bring. Couture’s won’t be a plan of smoke and mirrors, but of skill and guile.

Both Couture and his trainer Shawn Tompkins make it clear they see a future MMA star in Lesnar the same way that the rest of the world does, but that he is still a work in progress hiding behind a chiseled shell.

“We respect the fact he’s huge and athletic, but he’s really not knowledgeable in the sport, and he’s definitely not technical,” says Tompkins.

Lesnar does not seem the type that particularly enjoys talking to the media; he certainly prefers the action in the cage. But he also has an affinity for soundbytes that help promote fights that is not present in most.

Asked last week what concerns he has in facing the five-time champion Couture, Lesnar bluntly replied, “I have none.”

Later on, when asked about Couture handling bigger fighters like Tim Sylvia and Gabe Gonzaga, Lesnar said, “There’s one thing I understand well. He’s fought big guys, but they don’t know how to wrestle. There’s a difference between them and me, and Randy knows that, too. The bigger guys Randy’s fought like Tim and Gonzaga aren’t half the athlete I am, as a wrestler or a fighter.”

Couture, as always, pays little attention to the words that precede a match, knowing full well that fighters sometimes say wild things based on emotion.

“In a lot of ways that brashness and bravado is covering up a little of the insecurities he’s carrying into this fight because he knows he doesn’t have all the skills yet,” Couture said. “But it’s no different than [notorious trash-talker] Tito [Ortiz] or some of the other guys who operate on emotions and that’s the way they get themselves psyched up to fight.”

Lesnar has on his side youth (he’s 31 to Couture’s 45), size (at fight time he’ll be around 275 while Couture will be around 225) and power (no comparables, but Lesnar reportedly bench-pressed 225 pounds 40 times in his Vikings’ workout, a very high number of repetitions for what is essentially Couture’s body weight).

Another interesting sidenote is the limited amount of film Couture and his team have with which to scout Lesnar. Two of his three matches went 90 seconds or less, and his last fight against Heath Herring went a full three rounds, but Lesnar dominated from start to finish and never exhibited any real areas of susceptibility.

Tompkins estimates that he’s watched Lesnar-Herring around 300 times in the last two months in devising a strategy with Couture, and insists that the guy with the comic-book-sized frame has flaws which his fighter will exploit.

Much like in those fictional worlds, size does not always triumph.

Couture – Captain America to some – will rely on no superpowers in the cage. He’ll face down the big, bad, brash kid who was born to fight and either solve him like a puzzle or be overwhelmed by a force and freak of nature.

“Anything can happen in this sport,” Lesnar says. “That’s the beauty of it. Whether he’s 220 or 250, if he’s good, he’s threatening. Who’ll win? We’ll find out, won’t we?”

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