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Grizzled mixed martial arts veteran Heath Herring (28-13) has agreed to take on Brock Lesnar (1-1) — a relative newcomer to the sport — at UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on August 9.

Herring replaces recent UFC Hall of Fame inductee, Mark Coleman, who had to withdraw from the heavyweight bout with Lesnar because a knee injury sustained while training.

“The Texas Crazy Horse” most recently defeated Cheick Kongo at UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion” back in March. He has two losses inside the Octagon, including a defeat to the current UFC Heavyweight Champion, Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueria — a fight he was seconds away from winning if he had put more pressure on the Brazilian when he had him hurt.

Herring has been fighting since 1997 and has been in against some of the best in the business such as Nogueira, Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko Cro Cop, Vitor Belfort, Mark Kerr, Igor Vovchanchyn, Enson Inoue and others.

Put simply, he’s been tested.

Lesnar, on the other hand, has not. He’s a genetic freak of nature who has amazing wrestling skills, trying to make the transition from the WWE to the UFC. And he looked solid in his Octagon debut against former heavyweight champion Frank Mir at UFC 81: “Breaking Point” back in February … for about 90 seconds.

He was punishing Mir, but then got caught in a fight-ending submission (kneebar).

UFC President Dana White was apparently not kidding when he mentioned that Lesnar was going to be thrown in the deep end. It’s time to sink or swim.

One positive for Lesnar is that Herring has terrible takedown defense. He could not stop a shot in his fight with Jake O’Brien and Kongo even seemingly took him to the floor at will. Lesnar has more wrestling ability in his left thumb than O’Brien and Kongo put together.

And being underneath the massive Lesnar, eating punches and elbows, is not a cool place to be. Just ask Frank Mir.

For the latest UFC 87 card click here.

Props: The Sun.co.uk

Quoteworthy:

“Brock is a bigger, faster and stronger wrestler, who also has knock out power with his hands, and he has a better submission game. If Mark attempts to take Brock down he will be sprawled on and end up on the bottom getting smashed. If it stays standing, Brock will smash him with his boxing skills. Lastly, if Brock wants to, he will take Mark down and smash him. I predict Brock winning by smashing Mark with his size 4 XXL hands.”

Greg Nelson — one of the top trainers for heavyweight fighter Brock Lesnar (and Sean Sherk) — shares his thoughts on the preparation for his fighter heading into a showdown against Mark Coleman at UFC 87 in Minneapolis, Minn., on August 9. Lesnar dropped his Octagon debut to Frank Mir at UFC 81: “Breaking Point” in February 2008.