Herring hardly intimidated by ex-wrestler Lesnar

Facing top competition is nothing new for Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight Heath Herring. He's been doing it his entire career. But in his next match-up, he faces possibly the most hyped and talked about 1-1 fighter the sport has ever known.

Coming off of a March win over Cheick Kongo at UFC 82, Herring jumped at the opportunity to face former WWE superstar Brock Lesnar in a showdown that could help push the Texas native into true superstardom in the sport of MMA.

While Herring may not have quite the notoriety that Lesnar does coming into the fight, what he does have is a career's worth of experience and that could make all the difference in the fight.

"You've got to remember this guy has never even been out of the first round," said Herring. "If the fight does go on and he gets into deep water, who knows how he's going to react when he gets tired, when his hands start dropping.

"He's never even really been hit in a fight before. I've dropped somebody in every one of my fights, so we'll see how he reacts when he gets caught with a couple of shots."

It seems obvious to most observers going into this match-up that Lesnar, a former NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion, will want to get Herring to the ground, but that's not anything new for him either.

"I feel really good about (fighting) wrestlers," Herring stated. "I've fought some of the best on the planet. (Mark) Kerr, Tom Erikson when everybody thought he was unbeatable, so I'm not really looking at anything in Lesnar's skill set, isn't really anything I haven't seen before."

The former Pride standout will of course have his own advantages in the fight beyond his experience. Herring will look to use his length and reach advantage to give Lesnar problems on the feet, which could negate the Minnesota native's wrestling all together.

"Reach advantage plus those nice head kicks," Herring said about his advantages in the fight. "Those slow everybody down."

Herring will hope to slow down Lesnar in dramatic fashion this weekend at UFC 87 in Minnesota.