Death Clutch: My Story of Determination, Domination, and Survival [Hardcover]

Brock Lesnar tends to be a polarizing figure in MMA. Some people love him; others hate him. Very few are neutral. Some think he is a superb MMA practitioner. Haters dismiss him as a gorilla who simply takes people down, lacks submission skills and who tries to "lay and pray" his way to a win. (His arm triangle submission of Shane Carwin undermines that argument.) Some could care less that his earlier career was in pro rasslin'; others think it cheapens and demeans the sport of MMA.

Like him or hate him, it is indisputable that he is the UFC's cash cow. Nobody packs the gate or gooses up PPV buys like a fight featuring Brock. For all of his publicity, though, it has not been easy getting behind the façade of Brock Lesnar the Fighter. He shuns the limelight and seems content in the sticks of Alexandria, MN. You will not find him soaking up the nightlife in Las Vegas or dancing at the after-party. It was considered a coup for Dana White and Zuffa when they recently succeeded in getting Lesnar to agree to appear as one of the coaches on the latest season of the Spike TV reality show, "The Ultimate Fighter." If the show's producers thought there might be fireworks between Lesnar and Dos Santos, what they got instead was "the bland leading the bland."

Joining the growing shelves of first-person MMA memoirs is the putative autobiography of Brock Lesnar, DEATH CLUTCH.
What does DEATH CLUTCH tell us about Brock that we didn't already know?

He is a simple farm boy, raised on a farm with solid Midwest values of hard work. His parents made great sacrifices to allow him to participate and excel in wrestling. He wasn't coddled when he lost, but was urged to work harder and to "get back on the horse."

Lesnar is not enamored with glitz and glitter. He shuns the limelight in some ways, resenting the intrusion of the media into what he considers to be his private life. He is dedicated to his wife and kids, though he tells us little about them. He mentions his wife Rena, never using her persona name "Sable," but offers no back-story on how they originally met.

Impulsiveness has at times plagued Lesnar. When exiting the WWE, he was so eager to leave pro wrestling that he signed an agreement before his lawyers could review and revise it. In signing, he agreed to a non-compete clause that constrained him from earning a living. After defeating Frank Mir at UFC 100, he was so amped by his victory, he flipped off booing fans, taunted Mir to his pulverized/hamburger-ized face and dissed the corporate beer sponsors who helped make Lesnar's financial winnings possible.

Bad moves.

One irony is that, on the Amazon site to this book, Lesnar has a two-minute video portraying this book as a "tell all." Let me tell you, it does NOT "tell all." For example, one rumor that has followed Lesnar for years has been the suspicion of PED's or "juice."
This book would have been the perfect forum for dispelling with or addressing such rumors. He ignores it.

Lesnar comes across as headstrong and, if you don't like him, he could really give a #$%$. Otherwise, Lesnar here plays things very close to the vest and does NOT "tell all." Which is perfectly fine, EXCEPT when you start to shill the book as a "tell all."

No one will mistake Brock Lesnar for William Shakespeare. He joins the ranks of such literary luminaries as Matt Hughes, Randy Couture, BJ Penn, Jens Pulver and Brian Stann. In surveying the books by MMA fighters, we need not set the literary bar too high.

Whether you like or loath Brock Lesnar, if you are an MMA fan, you will likely find this book interesting. One plus: it is a quick read.

Another contradiction is this. On the book cover, Lesnar says "This one time ... you are invited to join me in my private world for a few hours. Just don't expect another invitation." Yet, on his Amazon.com promo video, he hints at a sequel.

Odd.

As DEATH CLUTCH comes to print, the Brock Lesnar story is clouded. His planned UFC 131 fight against Junior Dos Santos was off due to a recurrence of diverticulitis. Another round of colon surgery followed. Will Lesnar fight again? If so, can he regain his old form? Can he recover to challenge Dos Santos? Can he ever win his heavyweight belt back from Cain Velasquez? Certainly Dana White and the UFC prays he will return. He is their cash cow. No one fills seats or pulls in PPV buys like Lesnar.

Popeye was famous for saying, I am what I am."

That's a good way to describe Brock Lesnar too.

Brock Lesnar has long divided people, especially when he joined the UFC after only one fight and was given a title shot after only two UFC fights. Die hard MMA fans hated him for this and WWE fans despised him for leaving the company after only two years. However one thing most people can agree on is that he is a must watch as is backed up by the Pay-Per-View numbers UFC do whenever he fights. So now with his Autobiography is he a must read? The answer is yes in parts. It's just a pity he has skimmed over so much of his career.

The book is split in to three parts, the first part covering his life growing up and beginning wrestling at a young age and how is Mother was his biggest critic. It documents his rise to becoming the NCAA Division I Wrestling Champion. Which of course leads him to meeting Marty Morgan, who is now the head trainer at Brock's Death Clutch gym. Part Two covers his time with the WWE, he has a few good stories to tell but I'm sure he could have included a lot more, It has a chapter on the late Curt Henning(Mr Perfect) that is barely one page long! He gives a short story on meeting Future wife Rena "Sable" Mero while with the company and his reasons for wanting to get out of the company. Part Three covers his battle with the WWE lawyers and their no compete clause as well as trying out for the NFL and eventually making his way to the UFC.

Of course Frank Mir is probably number one enemy in the book(just ahead of Vince McMahon) and he does cover their rivalry leading into UFC 100 very well, as well as the famous aftermath and what Dana had to say to him, he covers his battle with Diverticulitis and how he thought he was going to die. The book finishes with Brock talking about him coaching on The Ultimate fighter season 13 against Junior dos Santos. However as we now know Brock was again struck down by Diverticulitis and would have to have 12 inches of his colon removed, he would retire after a loss to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141.

It's a pity Brock couldn't go in to more detail about his life such as the arrest for receiving what were thought to be Steroids but were instead found to be a legal growth hormone. This would have been has chance to give his side of the story, but as he say's himself he is a very private person and doesn't have a lot of time for the media. So what we get is 200 pages that is way too short.

To begin w/, let me preface this that I am a Brock fan. Still, I came in w/ an open mind about the whole book.

It was an easy read. I liked that chapters were short. It allowed me to read a chapter or so during porcelain god sessions w/o having to leave in between chapters. So the book went by pretty fast.

That same reason is why I gave the book a 4 instead of 5. I felt that the chapters were actually kind of too short and lacked a lot of details. I felt I wanted more in some of the chapters and left out some details.

Overall, I thought it was a good book. I really didn't really learn too much more of Brock from it.

I didn't know he tried to come back from WWE and they didn't want him. Aside from that, nothing really deep down and secret that I'd want in an autobiography came out.

He does blast a few people in the book. But I look at it as his words and feelings. So I take it. Why not?

If you're a Brock fan, I think it's a good buy. If you're a Brock hater, it's a good buy too. You might hate him more or less. It depends.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 24 reviews  3.8 out of 5 stars