Here at THE SAVAGE SCIENCE, we’re ‘glass half full’ type of people. For that reason we’ve decided not to rail against Delaware Representative Robert J. Valihura, Jr. despite the fact that he can see no apparent difference between “Toughman Competitions”–where overweight, drunken longshoremen and truck drivers pummel each other wearing headgear and oversized gloves–and MMA–where the best conditioned, best trained and toughest athletes in the world compete under rules codified by the same body that administers boxing (The Association of Boxing Commissions and their member organizations).

Random Toughman competitor

After several lengthy discussions and conference calls, the SAVSCI staff has decided that we want to try and *educate* Representative Valihura. After all, we concluded, its simply not fair of us to assume that everyone is up to the lofty intellectual standards required of a fight sport journalist. Clearly, if he’s not able to discern between two widely divergent disciplines as “Toughman competitions” and mixed martial arts we can only surmise that he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed or is otherwise not particularly quick on the uptake. In lieu of us scanning a copy of that beloved childrens’ classic Curious George Trains in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu we’re going to try and point out some of the difference between toughman competitions and competitors and mixed martial artists.

First, we’ll show a toughman competitor (pictured above)–again, chosen at random from Google Images. This gentleman is obviously a big dude who likely has some decent punching power. It’s apparent, however, that physical conditioning isn’t his top priority. He appears to not know the meaning of the word ’sit up’ and most likely his cardio conditioning is suspect.

MMA fighter Brock Lesnar

Now, compare the first picture to this one of former professional wrestler and current UFC fighter Brock Lesnar. At 6′3″ and 265 pounds of solid muscle, Lesnar may be the most physically imposing athlete in any sport. When he made his MMA debut he required custom made gloves, since normal 3XL gloves wouldn’t fit on his hands. Lesnar’s workout regimen has been described as ‘brutal’, ‘inhuman’, ‘punishing’ and ‘beyond comprehension’. He not only possesses obvious size and strength, but amazing cardiovascular conditioning–and particularly for someone his size. He also has amazing agility as evidenced by the video below–the picture quality isn’t great, but you’ll see Brock Lesnar performing a move called a ’shooting star press’ developed by 5′7″ Japanese wrestling legend Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger. Men who are 6′3″, 265 aren’t supposed to be able to pull this move, but no one appears to have told Lesnar this:

Lesnar has no formal boxing experience, meaning that he isn’t considered a “real” athlete under the wording of Valihura’s proposed legislation. Lesnar comes from an amateur wrestling background, where all he managed to accomplish was a 33-0 record in his senior year of high school and a 106-5 record in 4 years of college competition. He is a four time All American, two time All Big 10, two time Big 10 heavyweight champion and the 2000 NCAA heavyweight champion.

Lesnar competed as a pro wrestler for awhile, but eventually grew tired of the grueling lifestyle and working for Vince McMahon. So he quit the sport and decided he wanted to play professional football despite the fact that he hadn’t played football since junior high school. If you’re familiar with the NFL, you’re obviously aware that you don’t just “decide” you want to play in the NFL and start doing it. To make the NFL you dedicate yourself to football throughout high school and college. Lesnar joined the Minnesota Vikings training camp as a “walk on” and very nearly made the team. He was offered a developmental deal to play in NFL-Europe but since he’d made a lot of money in pro wrestling decided that lifestyle wasn’t for him. He continued to wrestle professionally in Japan (where he held the IWGP title for a time) as he trained to compete in mixed martial arts.

So let’s summarize:

TOUGHMAN = no formal training or fighting experience + questionable strength and cardio conditioning

LESNAR = insanely conditioned, unreal size, strength, cardio and agility + a near legendary amateur wrestling background

If Representative Valihura reads this and *still* has trouble grasping these concepts we’ll be happy to have our graphic department draw it out in comic book form to make it easier for him.