Death Clutch: My Story of Determination, Domination, and Survival

Ok going into the book I was expecting stories about people he worked withThis was eye opening very straight to the point storiesAbout his life

I like to read.

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.

I have been a fan of Brock Lesnar ever since he came into the WWE, and since I am from Minnesota, it helped that he wrestled with the U of M. We even worked out at the same gym a few times and he seemed like a really nice guy and took time to sign autographs. Okay, so we didn't work out together but we were at the gym at the same time. With all of that said I felt a little jipped after getting the book for Kindle.It was a fast read and there was not much to it. I understand some of the reasons why...I cant blame Brock for wanting to keep his personal life and professional life seperate. I can also understand his personality of being a straight to the point type of guy. However Brock needs to realize that he is inviting us into his life by reading this book, especially by having us pay to do it. Then just as he gives all he has in his fights, he should do the same here, but there is a lot misssing.He mentions how he was burned out on his wrestling day's and it was a business to him and all he cared about was cashing the checks, but that shouldnt mean that there werent bits and pieces he could of shared with us. I remember hearing a story from the WWE star Spike Dudley about how he was fighting Brock in a dark match (house show...not on tv) and how Brock was a little too predictable in his wrestling so when the oppurtunity arose and Brock was down on all 4's Spike jumped on his back and rode him like a horse. Then thankfully, Spike said he was small and quick enough to keep away from Brock until he settled down a little bit. For those who dont know...Spike is about 150 pounds soaking wet. Okay so that story goes against Brock but just an example to prove there is a lot more that he could have shared.Overall the book was okay but didnt feel like it was worth the $9.99 I paid for the kindle version. I will say this though, by reading this book I have a little more insight to who he is and I can appreciate a little more what he does and what he has been through. I know there will be a lot of people that dont like him but I will always be a fan of his and look forward to his next fight in December 2011. If you are a fan of Brock then I recomend reading the book, but if you are reading it just for his WWE day's or his UFC days then I wouldnt bother.

This is Brock Lesnar by Brock Lesnar.He is not an outgoing personality and will not go into great details about his personal life as that is his life. What he will discuss is his sporting achievements, whether it be amateur wrestling, professional wrestling or the UFC fights he had.In this book, we get a fast paced look at Lesnar and he tells some good stories about his life. It is not a long book (bit over 200 pages) and there are a lot of blank pages and short chapters throughout so not a long read at all.I like Lesnar a lot, not only for his wrestling/UFC exploits (great as they were and are) but for his self belief in changing careers mid-stream from wrestling to the UFC. Being able to change careers like that is truly remarkable.He is not afraid to give his opinions on certain wrestlers and Vince McMahon.Overall a solid book, marred by the blank pages that makes the book look longer than it actually is.

Brock Lesnar should be no enigma to fans of pro wrestling and UFC. The only athlete to win an NCAA, WWE and UFC championship. Youngest WWE champion at 25 and knocked out Randy Cotoure in his 4th MMA fight to become UFC champ.That's just a number of accomplishments under the belt of Brock Lesnar.I'll start off by saying, if you're expecting a full and in-depth story of Brock Lesnar, then this book might not be for you, the chapters in this book is disappointingly short, Brock doesn't go into much depth about any road stories, conversations, matches etc. There are some interesting recollections of conversations he had with Vince McMahon, Big Show and The Rock. But don't expect Brock to talk about his match with Hardcore Holly where Brock broke his neck or his thoughts on Holly, his time riding with Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig or even any stories regarding his first WWE stint. Mind you, the poor guy was drinking so much vodka he probably doesn't remember most of it.Also would like to point out this book was released in 2011, so again if you're expecting talk about his recent WWE return and current run, then you might want to wait for Death Clutch 2.The book itself though is a great read in terms of knowing more about Brock's upbringing and his relationship with his parents and how they almost coached Brock themselves into this winning mentality and an early beast mode of not settling for 2nd best. His telling of his time at college is also interesting as he talks about a situation where he was short of credits to make the cut so had to travel to California from Minnesota and go to school there to obtain the credits needed so he can join the wrestling team.I'm over halfway in this book and enjoying it because I'm a huge Lesnar fan, as a fan I must say I was gutted to see the lack of detail Brock goes into about his matches in WWE and his relationships with other WWE superstars, again we all know Brock is not really a 'people person' so that could explain it.Still, if you're looking to add a solid read into one of wrestling and UFC's most dominant athletes, then buy this book and give it a read, just don 't expect a 300 page barn-storming escapade of stories and flashbacks.

Brock Lesnar.You may know him as "The Next Big Thing" in WWE or "The Baddest Man On The Planet" in UFC, but Brock Lesnar is a very quiet person. He's not one for interviews it seems, nor does he like to talk trash (unless your name is Frank Mir, then he's quite animated), so this book is about Brock by Brock, with the assistance of Paul "ECW" Heyman and it's quite a fascinating read.Lesnar explains everything in a matter-of-fact way without appearing to pull any punches. He states that puberty hit him late - he didn't need to say it, but he does just so you can understand him. His parents coached him in such a way that second place is still a loss, even if you beat 998 others to get there, you failed to beat 999. He explains this in such a way you feel sympathy for him being brought up like that, but he doesn't want your sympathy - he accepts it has made him the athlete he is by instilling a desire inside him to be the best.He talks about his time in WWE, why he left, how he felt and his reasons for turning his back on it all. Sure, he lashes out a little, but there's no real malice, or certainly not any perception of it. He basically calls it how he sees it. He talks about his loss to Frank Mir and touches upon his loss to Cain Velasquez, his battle with diverticulitis and even being humble enough to admit his mistakes (the Bud Light incident).I was a fan of Lesnar's before I read this, I'm just as much a fan now but with a better knowledge of his background and why he made some of the choices he has along the way. It's just a shame you can read this in about 90 minutes or so.

I'm always suspicious when a biography comes out of a sports star or wrestler when they are only half way through their career. Perhaps the exception is Chris Jericho's fine books but usually you find a book written by someone still under contract in the middle of a career and not wanting to burn any bridges - see Kurt Angles or The Rocks books for example. Published by WWE and bias as anything.Regardless of this I got Brock's book because in such a short few years he has managed to cause major headlines in 3 high profile sports and be the subject of a well publicised legal battle along the way - plenty of material for a book.Sadly this book is succinct to the point of bluntness when it comes to a potted history of Brocks early days and career in sports entertainment regardless of the discipline.In the blurb on the back he talks about revealing all secrets and telling the truth... I dunno either the truth just isn't very interesting or surprising these day or he is wrapped up in more lawyer based censorship than a politician.I think what I miss from this book compared to any other biography is the little anecdotes, the small inconsequential stories that people have which show a little window into the way they lived and make them seem more human and real to the avergae reader. I can't recall anything like that in this book - it is all broad timeline information with a dash of arrogance thrown in.If you are a fan of Brock... you might as well get it as you will enjoy it regardless however if you are a general biography reader only pick this up in a sale as it will barely last you 3 hours.

As a Lesnar fan, barring this book getting seriously bad reviews, I was always likely to buy this. Heading in, knowing Lesnar's attitude to certain matters, I was not expecting a detailed classic, and whilst this book is a decent read overall, its far from great.It's not a detailed tale of how an amateur wrestler managed to make it to the top of his game in two different fields, nor is it a detailed recount of his WWE days, nor is it a heart warming tale of a grafter's rise to the top of the UFC - it really is just a very general, overview by Brock of his life and career to date.There are some stories and comments which you might not already have read which are in this book, but largely you come away from the book not really feeling you know that much more than you did before - as one other reviewer has pointed out already, Brock has been quite cautious in some of what he says, not wanting to get wrangled into any legal disputes; as a result a lot is left untouched.What makes this all the more frustrating is you know Brock would have some pretty entertaining stories and views to give (ie. the Curt Hennig "chapter" - Brock goes on to talk about how big an influence Curt was yet doesn't even mention the "plane ride from hell", one of his funniest and most famous stories involving Curt)Whether you are looking into this book as a WWE fan or a UFC fan, you are likely to be left having enjoyed the book (and having got through it very quickly due to how short it is) but wondering what the point was of him releasing it at this stage of his career.The book is also perhaps another example of how Brock does not really get the concept of having fans - throughout the book he clarifies that almost every decision he has made in his career has been to maximise financial gain, and fair enough to him, but it only just makes it even clearer that this book is in reality nothing than an unashamed money spinner.Curiously, when you read this book (and the back cover confirms this) you feel as if Brock is saying "you should be grateful for me writing this at all" - in reality Brock should be grateful that people are even willing to buy this poor attempt at an autobiography which truly is only for Lesnar fans.

Brock Lesnar is a beast of a man, and that comes across in spades in this book.From High School wrestling champion through the WWE to UFC (sadly not "and back to the WWE" - it was published before that), this is a man who's at the top of his game - and knows it. He won't let anyone forget it either.His true-life 'heel' persona shines through all over the book, and whilst some might find his obsession with money against the blinkered notions they have of wrestlers or professional fighters I found it refreshingly honest and realistic.It's a short book, only taking me a handful of reading sessions to get through, but its simple layout lets you drop in for minutes at a time and get through a lot.I'd recommend it to anyone who's followed Brock's career, and thank author Paul Heyman for giving us an interesting insight to Mr Lesnar in his own words.