How does Brock Lesnar's UFC record compare to top modern heavyweights?

From amateur wrestling to American football, and pro-wrestling to MMA, Brock Lesnar tried to leave a mark in every sport he participated in. Yet, his MMA career can easily be considered his second-biggest professional achievement after WWE. The Webster-native fought a total of eight fights in the UFC and became the promotion's heavyweight champion in 2008.

Lesnar (5-3-1 MMA, 4-3-1 UFC) retired from MMA in 2017 with a 50 per cent success rate under the UFC umbrella. Comparing his MMA record with the current top five UFC heavyweights can help establish Lesnar's place in the competitive history of the division.

It only takes one clean strike to the head to end any fight in the power-packed heavyweight division, and even the very best heavyweights have tasted defeat. However, the average winning percentage of the current top five UFC heavyweights stands at a respectable 79.8 per cent, almost 30 per cent higher than Brock Lesnar's.

While No.1 ranked Francis NGannou (15-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) and No.3 ranked Jairzinho Rozenstruik (11-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) lead the pack with an 83.33 per cent success rate, champion Stipe Miocic (20-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) is a close second having won 82.35 per cent of his UFC fights. No. 2 ranked Curtis Blaydes (14-2 MMA, 9-2-1 UFC) and No. 4 ranked Derrick Lewis (24-7-1 MMA, 15-5 UFC) maintain the third position with 75 percent success rate.

As the numbers show, Brock Lesnar's UFC record is not comparable to that of today's best heavyweight fighters, but numbers can be misleading, and they do not take into account the qualitative side of affairs.

Brock Lesnar's success rate does not tell the full story

Brock Lesnar was the only UFC heavyweight champion besides Cain Velasquez and Andre Arlovski who defended the title two times

Relatively inexperienced in the sport, Brock Lesnar became UFC champion in his fourth professional fight by defeating UFC legend Randy Couture. He defended the strap against former champion Frank Mir and Shane Carwin to become one of the only three fighters to achieve the feat before reigning champion Stipe Miocic.

The biggest flaw in Brock Lesnar's game was the amount of time he spent training for MMA. Having entered the professional circuit with less than three years of training, Lesnar did not have an edge over his future opponents like Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem, who had decades of training under their belts in a particular discipline of fighting. This is reflected in the outcome of his fights against them.

Despite having a less-than-impressive record on paper, Brock Lesnar deserves credit for making the UFC a truly global phenomenon. One of the biggest promotional hurdles that the UFC faced in its early going was the absence of fighters who could promote themselves.

With his trademark pro-wrestling swagger and formidable fighting ability, Brock Lesnar pulled a very large chunk of pro-wrestling fans to the UFC and MMA. Testimony to the fact that three out of five of the highest grossing UFC PPV events were headlined by Brock Lesnar before Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey's emergence. Brock Lesnar, with his 50 per cent success rate, laid the foundations for the UFC's success as we know it today.