The Backhanded Compliment

Brock Lesnar proved a lot of doubters wrong over the weekend when he defeated Randy Couture to become the UFC heavyweight champion.

Lesnar's former employers - WWE - also paid compliment to his achievement but couldn't resist taking a pop at the UFC.

On WWE.com yesterday, the company acknowledged that one of their former World champions had reached the pinnacle in another sport. I wasn't shocked that they made mention of this as advertisements for the event had been appearing on the site in the days leading up to UFC 91. What was shocking was the lengths WWE went in discrediting UFC and its pay-per-view events.

Take a look at the article in question and you'll notice a paragraph that stands out. It's as if a staff member of the website had written the copy and Vince McMahon edited it by adding his own paragraph within the context. You can tell that this is the work of two people as their is no contextual flow in the piece.

Brock Lesnar: WWE and UFC gold

LAS VEGAS - In a stunning upset, Brock Lesnar became the first man to have captured both the WWE Championship and the UFC Heavyweight Championship when he defeated UFC fan favorite Randy "The Natural" Couture on Saturday night in Sin City.

Lesnar, dubbed "The Next Big Thing" upon his arrival in WWE, earned the moniker and his first WWE Championship in 2002 after besting The Rock at SummerSlam. Thanks in large part to the backing of the WWE Universe, the former college wrestling phenomenon went on to regain the title twice, both times against Kurt Angle, once at WrestleMania in 2003 and then six months later on SmackDown.

For Lesnar, the road to UFC gold proved surprisingly short. Within roughly six months, the former WWE Superstar climbed to the top of the ultimate fighting heap, capping his ascent with the upset victory over Couture.

Critics have noted that many of the fights on the UFC pay-per-view ended in the first round, leaving UFC producers scrambling to fill the three-hour event with content. The dearth of hearty competition left many viewers to watch less prestigious under-card fights and only served to bolster claims that UFC pay-per-view events can often be a "crap shoot" in regards to filling the full three hours.

For his part, Lesnar took the encouragment of the WWE Universe and the hard lessons forged during his fiery time at WWE and showed UFC and the world why he is not only a man of mettle but also a former three-time WWE Champion.

I am not implying that Vince McMahon personally sabotaged this article but it is obvious that someone wrote this intending to brown-nose to the McMahon family. It is also worth noting that Shane McMahon is a fan of UFC and was at the show on Saturday night.