UFC 116 - July 3rd - Spoilers

[Paul 584]

Main card

Heavyweight Championship bout: Brock Lesnar © vs Shane Carwin (ic)

Middleweight bout: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben

Welterweight bout: Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown

Light Heavyweight bout: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Stephan Bonnar

Lightweight bout: George Sotiropoulos vs. Kurt Pellegrino

 

 

I cant wait for the Lesnar/Carwin match, should be a cracker. My moneys on Brock.

[Guest John Hancock]

If Lesnar wins, what on Earth can they do next with the Heavyweight division?

[Guest Frank Botch]

If Lesnar wins, what on Earth can they do next with the Heavyweight division?

 

JDS, if he beats Nelson, and Cain would be great challengers...really not sure how Lesnar will perform though, anyone see those training videos with Couture? Dude is ridiculous in those but it's obviously different in a fight (especially after such a long lay off.) Lesnars chin hasn't really been tested either so it'll be interesting to see how he copes if he gets rocked, though I'm sure Lesnar will try to get the fight to the ground straight away (and keep it there.)

 

Real shame Wand dropped out but Leben is a good replacement, Bonnar is terrible but usually has entertaining fights and Sotiropoulos/Pellegrino could be awesome, definitely FOTN potential.

Edited June 28, 2010 by Frank Botch

[Paul 584]

I'm sure Lesnar will try to get the fight to the ground straight away (and keep it there.).

 

Given Carwins background that could make for a cracking fight. For me anyway.

[Fidel Cashflow 130]

Sexyama v Leben should be fun.

[DC 536]

Lesnars chin hasn't really been tested either so it'll be interesting to see how he copes if he gets rocked

Didn't Brock take a really brutal knee to the face against Couture (it might have been during Mir II)?

 

As for the fight, I think it could come down to how Carwin reacts if taken to a second round. I can't see past Brock, but I think this'll be a close fight.

[Paul 584]

I found this over on the UKFF, its taken from todays Heymans Hustle.

 

BREAKING NEWS: Paul Heyman Calls Brock Lesnar A "Carwin-Eating Carnivore"

 

The hype for Brock Lesnar's UFC 116 main event with Shane Carwin for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship was kicked off tonight as soon as the Strikeforce show ended, and Lesnar's former WWE producer and writer (and on air "agent"/"manager") Paul Heyman posted a huge blog on The Heyman Hustle in which he describes Lesnar as a "Carwin-Eating Carnivore!"

 

In the blog, which can be read in its entirety HERE, Heyman writes:

 

There is an eery calmness to Brock Lesnar these days. I've never seen him this close to a major event and yet have so much peace of mind. Usually, he's a self-described "bear with a sore ass" heading into fight week. This time, however, Brock's approach is a bit different. No tension. No pacing. No "can't wait til I get in there and the fight starts" mentality. Brock Lesnar is simply counting down the days until he has a job to do, and that job is to once again unify the UFC Heavyweight Championship.

 

"I have a different perspective on everything," the only man who has ever held the NCAA, WWE, and UFC Heavyweight Championships said, "I know what I have to do, and I am sure Shane Carwin knows I am uniquely capable of doing it."

 

The way I look at it, from my own personal perspective, is that one of two things is happening here. The first scenario is really scary. We may be witnessing a dramatic shift in the Lesnar mindset, a far different approach than he's ever carried with him into the Octagon. Uh oh. That could be a very scary "unknown factor" for Shane Carwin to deal with. The other possibility is Brock is at one with his own emotions, and the beast will emerge when that Octagon door is locked, and it's only Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, and the referee inside the cage. Having known Brock for over 8 years, I can't tell you which scenario is scarier. They both seem pretty frightening to me.

 

"I'm sure Shane Carwin has done everything he can to prepare for this fight," Brock theorized, "I know I am very satisfied with how my training camp went. I've envisioned this fight over and over in my head. Each time I see it playing out, my hand is up in the air. It's just the way it's going to be. No knock on Shane. I'm sure he's bringing his A-Game against me. Good for him. He better ... because I just don't see any man being able to take this championship away from me."

 

There's a ton of exclusive quotes from Lesnar, including some very surprising comments from the former WWE Champion. Heyman, who gave Lesnar the nickname "The Next Big Thing" now switches the nickname to "The Carwin-Eating Carnivore." You can read it all HERE

[Guest Frank Botch]

Didn't Brock take a really brutal knee to the face against Couture (it might have been during Mir II)?

 

As for the fight, I think it could come down to how Carwin reacts if taken to a second round. I can't see past Brock, but I think this'll be a close fight.

 

There was a jumping knee in the Mir fight but I don't think it caused a lot of damage (though it looked great.) I think Carwins striking is more dangerous than any of Lesnars opponents so far.

 

Good point about Carwin going to a second round though, I think his longest fight was like four minutes and if he spends the first round on his back he could be done in the second. I'm going to pick Carwin though simply because of the lay off and his stand up, though maybe I'm overrating him (and underrating Brock.)

 

For anyone interested the pre lims are live this month, couple of interesting fights, Petruzelli is the dude who killed EliteXC:

 

Heavyweight bout: Brendan Schaub vs. Chris Tuchscherer

Light Heavyweight bout: Seth Petruzelli vs.Ricardo Romero

[Guest The Beltster]

They should have given him a rematch with Kimbo before Kimbo got canned, just for shits and giggles. Edited July 3, 2010 by The Beltster

[Guest Jimmy Redman]

If Lesnar wins, what on Earth can they do next with the Heavyweight division?

 

As already said, Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos have already been talked about as challengers, as long as they dont lose in the meantime I'd assume they'd step up next.

[Guest JC]

'The Terminator' (Cain) is up there as a big challenger for me and JDS surely has to be given a chance (even if you look at wonky logic: Werdum just beat the GOAT..and JDS destroyed Werdum..)

 

As for Carwin/Lesnar. It could just be Lesnar being too big, bad and overall..a complete monster for Carwin but I reckon if Carwin lands a punch, Lesnar will panic, struggle and could well get finished.

 

As others have said though, if it goes to the ground, we probably give Lesnar the win. That said of course, we no very little of Carwin's wrestling apart from the accolades he has.

[Guest The Cork]

I have to go with Carwin. I can't see Brock coming back from a 'life-threatening injury' after a year with no ill-effects to beat a guy with only 1st RD KO's on his record.

 

By the way, the rest of this card is horrid.

[Guest JC]

Well I think that's the other factor. People are giving Lesnar the benefit of the doubt and assuming he'll be fine.

 

Could well see a different Lesnar (better or worse) come 116.

[Guest Dusty Finish]

By the way, the rest of this card is horrid.

 

Lytle-Brown and Sotiropolous-Pellegrino are horrid?

 

Kay.

[Guest The Cork]

Lytle-Brown and Sotiropolous-Pellegrino are horrid?

 

Kay.

 

 

 

Yeah, they are. Your point is?

 

 

117 and 118 have way better cards than this.

[ShaolinHandLock 73]

I'm hoping Brock wins, although I won't be too upset if he loses.

 

This card would be better if Wanderlai Silva wasn't injured.....

 

And let's go George Sotiropoulos! :)

[Guest Dusty Finish]

Yeah, they are. Your point is?

 

 

117 and 118 have way better cards than this.

 

My point is that- while Leben for Wandy is a bit of a dampener- Lytle and Brown individually never fail to deliver at least a fun fight. Sotiropolous and Pellegrino are, respectively, a fresh & exciting young prospect coming off a very significant win, and a reasonably well-established fighter just now entering his prime, who has recently started to find some consistency (a 155lb version of Alan Belcher, if you like). This is a fight where the winner will be talked about as a contender some time in the next 18 months.

 

Add to the above, Soszynski-Bonnar I was an absolute war. But, I get it, none of the above are "names", right?

 

117 is looking pretty decent- Dos Santos and the still-underrated Nelson are there, I suppose. And there is the slight possibility the Anderson might bring it seeing as he now has "Shogun" to fight if he moves up (otherwise, watch out for The Spider stopping to knit a jumper & write a novel while another guy nowhere near his league struggles to get within 5 feet of him). Hughes-Almeida is a fight where the winner will get to jeer "Haha, you're less relevent than meeeee!". Maybe Jon Fitch will have a rush of blood and try to improve his position within guard at least once.

 

118 is the biggest missed opportunity to freshen up a stagnant division in living history. Fresh-faced new champion Edgar vs the only man to beat him to date (Maynard)- the build up writes itself. Winner fights KenFlo, easily #2 in the division. Penn-Gomi II keeps "The Prodigy" busy in the meantime. Sound ok, Joe? Nah, alright, lets go down the old-worn rematch path, with Florian & Maynard in a "Loser Gets His Nuts Cut Off" match in a fast track to BJ-KenFlo II.... and we all know how the first meeting went.

 

I'm a big fan of Marquardt & Palhares, but against each other??! Eeek, horrible match-up, stylistically. Palhares will want absolutely no part of the standup, and they'll cancel each other out on the ground. Couture -Toney is a gimmick.

Edited June 29, 2010 by Dusty Finish

[Guest The Cork]

Yeah, Lytle is exciting to watch I guess, I just don't consider him a serious threat seeing as he's lost to every top guy he's fought (Kos, Hughes, Alves) and Sotiropolous - Pellegrino is a good fight, but still, the card is horrid.

[Guest The Beltster]

UFC would be stupid to waste any decent fights on this card, its a one-fight PPV and it will sell on the main event alone. Save other top fights for other PPV's. UFC are smart to have a massive main event and pad it out with a bunch of crap because nobody cares about anything other than Lesnar/Carwin anyway.

[Guest Dude Love]

Why/how are there 2 Heavyweight Champions?