UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin

[MisterRob]

I just don't see anyway that Carwin is going to win this fight. Sure he's undefeated, sure he's knocked out everyone he's faced, but when you put him up against Brock Lesnar I just can't see him matching up in any way. He sure as hell is not going to manhandle Lesnar like he did Mir. He doesn't have a chance of doing that. Carwin may be the same height and the same weight as Lesnar, but Lesnar is built far stronger and far more dominant in his size. Lesnar is also far faster and more agile then Carwin.. and when you combine sheer size, power, and speed it's a combination Carwin has not faced in anyone he's fought. Carwin's not fast at all and I predict Lesnar is going to avoid any 'onslaught' from Carwin and take him down with ease. Look at what he did to Heath Herring and Mir by sheer size, speed and force!

All Carwin's got going for him is his knockout power, and it's been hyped up to distract from everything else he's lacking leaving people to forget about anything but those knockouts. But is Carwin going to knock out Lesnar? I don't see it happening. If he does connect and get shots in that Lesnar's speed and agility doesn't help him avoid, Lesnar definitely has a very solid chin on him. Look at the sheer structure of Lesnar's face. Lesnar took two massive knees from Mir, ones that certainly would've knocked most others right out and been a factor in the fight, and Lesnar shook them off and still dominated Mir. I don't see Carwin's knockout power being a factor, especially when the other factors in Lesnar's athleticism come into play.

And what about Carwin's chin? How is Carwin when he's pounded in the face with massive hands as big as his own? That hasn't been tested but I think it will be. Carwin's also never been manhandled by a wrestler with the size, strength and speed of Lesnar and I can't see any way Carwin's going to avoid that or defend it. He can wrestle sure, but not on the level Lesnar can, and when you add in Lesnar's size, strength and speed behind that wrestling ability it's a whole nother beast.

I see Carwin getting grounded and then pounded right out. I'm just not buying into Carwin's hype and I won't until he somehow knocks Lesnar out, because that's the only chance he has to win that fight.

 

[xAsianRejectx]

Like everyone else, I find it very hard to pick a winner here. Both are big, strong, and explosive. We have the ever popular "bully", Brock Lesnar, while he has very little experience he's still impressive. Most of the fights he's been in, Brock has been the dominant fighter and he's still progressing. Brock can also take a big hit. But can he take a hit from a guy who's finished all 12 of his opponents in the 1st round? Shane Carwin is a beast and the polar opposite of Brock. He's got power that's for sure and more experince than Brock. And if need be, Shane can also submit Brock, he has the submission skills. If I had too pick one to win, I'd lean towards Carwin. I think he has the better overall skill to win and is as dominate as Brock.

Leben vs. Sexyama should be a treat. Leben never fails to put on a good fight and it shows how much of a fighter he is by taking this fight on a late notice.

I really hope Bonnar wins his fight. It pains me as a fan to see him drop so low in the rankings. I want him back into contendership.

Pellegrino vs. Sotiropoulos should be an awesome fight between two great fighters. I think Sotiropoulos will take this one though. Sotiropoulos is definitely #1 contender material. He shows that in every fight.

Also, I heard that The Rock, Stone Cold, Goldberg, Jim Ross, and Paul Heyman are scheduled to be attending the PPV. The awesomeness in that arena cannot be cotained! Wow.

 

[Y4J]

Carwin is VERY impressive.. I mean no one escaping the first round? Amazing.. But let's look at things.

He beat Mir which is what really put him on the map, but other than that, Carwin hasn't shown he has enough WEAPONS for Brock. I mean, his fight with Gonzaga he was LOSING, and Gonzaga managed to take him down. Now add MUCH MORE strength and wrestling skill and you have Lesnar. I don't see Carwin defending that.

Carwin also fought Neil (Little short fat white dude) and won that fight via tko, however he did take some damage in that fight.

Bottom line, I think if you take Carwin's power in his fists out of this fight, you see a decent wrestler and Brock has WAY to many weapons against that.

Brock can punch (Remember all that talk about not standing with Crazy horse and Brock silenced people with that?) he still is a 106-5 division 1 wrestler, and can go the distance, and has proved he's got good MT knees.

I am going on a limb and saying Brock wins with an arm lock or camora.. But Carwin will win ONLY by KO if he does. But Brock is in for me, and proving he's the best HW in the world. If Carwin wins, he's the man.

 

[INDYjon22]

Awesome night of fights. By far my favorite card in recent memory and may even rival some of the epic cards from 2004. I seriously can't get over how great tonight was as a fan of mixed martial arts. The card delivered from top to bottom.

We all expected huge things from Lesnar/Carwin and I think we all got what we wanted. Lesnar came out trying to bang with Carwin and he got his ass handed to him. Carwin easily manhandled Lesnar in that first period and it wasn't even close. However, we did finally get to see what Carwin was like outside of the first round and it isn't pretty. Lesnar kept his cool and took Carwin down to the ground where he imposed his will and actually finished the fight in a fashion that I never saw coming. I find it really hard to believe anyone guessed that Lesnar would get Carwin to tap out with a submission. Brock Lesnar proved tonight that he is a rounded fighter and there is no debate about that.

The myth of Sexyama was all but ended tonight but a new legend was created. Chris Leben put his name in the history books of the UFC with his 2 wins in 2 weeks and they weren't against scrubs. Leben defeated two very tough guys and actually stopped them in the process. I still like Akiyama but the hype train has been derailed. Leben on the other hand is now only a few wins away from getting a title shot.

Chris Lytle had another great fight. Any fight Lytle is in is fun to watch and he put on another awesome showing tonight against a more then game Matt Brown. Brown is a very tough mother fucker and Lytle took the fight to him and got the tap out. Nice showing.

Bonnar got revenge for his most recent loss and looked very good in doing so. I like the Polish Experiment but Bonnar took the fight to him and honestly I don't think Sozsynski didn't know what hit him. It was very nice to see Bonnar finally get back on the winning side of things. It was also nice to see 2 Indiana boys win tonight, meaning Bonnar and Lytle.

I love George Sotriopoulos and I make no bones about it. I have been a die hard supporter for years now and tonight he finally put himself about one win away from a title shot, something he truly deserves. Pellegrino is no joke and Soti was all over him in route to victory. Mark my words, George Sotriopoulos will be Lightweight champion in the future.

As for the prelims, Ricardo Romero took a beating and kept on ticking. Petruzelli looked awesome in the beginning but gassed himself out and Romero took advantage of it and got the victory. Also, Brendan Schaub looked terrific tonight. I think Chris Tuchsherer's chin landed in the third row but don't quote me on that. Awesome win the Schaub. It was also nice to see that Kendall Grove got a win seeing as I am a big fan of his as well.

All in all it was a very memorable night for the UFC. I am very happy that my fellow hoosiers, Stephan Bonnar and Chris Lytle, stepped up and got some big wins. It was also awesome to see Brock Lesnar get a submission win and to see Chris Leben's name finally arrive in the mix with the rest of the top Middleweights, which is where I believe it belongs. Nights like tonight make me proud to be a fan of MMA.

 

[xAsianRejectx]

Didn't watch the fights, but read the play by plays.

I can see why Carwin loves keeping it in the 1st round. It seems like he came out gassed in the 2nd. Make no doubt about it, when you're gassed and your opponent isn't, you're done. Props to Brock though. Every fight he keeps showing us that he's more than some big mouth ex pro wrestler, he's a legit fighting machine that works hiss ass off for this. Learning everyday and never quitting. All respect to goes Brock tonight. I'm sur Carwin can bounce back. He's still an awesome fighter and it seemed that he was wupping Brock all over the octagon in the 1st round, but gassing is never what an MMA fighter should. More training in conditioning will do him greatly.

Props to Leben too. 14 days and two fighters stopped. He's in title contendership for sure. Sexyama still put up a great fight and was looking at a unanimous decision victory until he got rocked. Sexyama will be back, the sex machine will fight another fight!

Glad to see Bonnar won his fight in decisive fashion. It brings a big smile to my face to see him win. Hopefully his winning ways continue.

Sotriopoulos, what can I say? One of the best lightweight in the division. Title contendership is no question. Would be glad to see him fight either Penn or Edgar.

 

[Y4J]

First off the WHOLE SHOW was amazing. Bonnar, Lebin, just amazing. Great night and makes me love UFC/MMA even more. Man Lebin is no joke..

Brock proved a LOT tonight.

He proved he's got one hell of a chin and defense, that he can take a beating and still strive further, and that he is becoming well rounded fighter. Even though I said an arm lock, I knew Brock would submit Carwin.

Shane talked about his wrestling where when Brock was on the ground, he chose to stand and swing rather than trap him against the cage. Mistake cuz he could have done some damage.

What I was smiling about what the blink Carwin did to Brock and Brock smiling putting his arms up to Carwin and the respect they gave eachother. It was great and does show that Brock outside all the hype and so forth, can still be a respectful guy.

Great night. I Love it. Brock is the man.

 

[Dave]

I’ll say it, I thought that show last night was better than UFC 100. If quality of matches influenced buy-rate then I would definitely think that UFC 116 has surpassed the centennial event.

However, with that said, I doubt it has managed to get past UFC 100. My thoughts on the event could not be anymore pleasant though. At 3AM last night, I battled with myself to sty awake for the duration of the event and now I am so glad that I did. From start to finish, prelims to main card, this card was absolutely flawless in design and it showed on the night. I have never had more fun watching a UFC event and this would be the event that I showed people to convince them of UFC being magnificent. I honestly though the vent was that good.

I am glad that Brendan Schaub won last night and won in magnificent fashion. I have been a fan of his since the Ultimate Fighter and to see him come through what could have proven to be a tough opponent just showed how good he is. Stephan Bonnar’s fight was absolutely magnificent and I am glad that he managed to win it. I know a lot of people don’t care for Stephan Bonnar but I enjoy his fights for the most part and last night was certainly no exception. That match was worth of a fight of the night award and he was given it. Sexyama and Leben really surprised me last night. I assigned my 8 confidence points to Sexyama and I was very disappointed that he couldn’t get the job done. He looked great in the opening round and very poor in the second. However, when he got the takedown in the third, I was sure he could see the match out. However, it was not to be and praise has to go to Leben, who just walked into shot after shot and kept on coming. He deserved his win last night and it puts him right into the mix.

And then we come to our main event. Watching Shane Carwin come out, I knew that he was going to put up a very good showing but I was still convinced that Lesnar had what it takes to finish him off. As the first round went on, I saw Lesnar looking a little shocked at how easily Carwin was tagging him and for long parts of the match; he was just running away from his opponent. After the savage uppercut that rocked Lesnar, I was sure that the referee was going tot cave to the pressure and call off the fight. Props to him though as he let it continue and Lesnar showed that he wasn’t that hurt, barring some facial cuts. However, as he came out in the second, I saw a different man. He looked more confident that he knew what Carwin was going to throw at him and took him down. Once Lesnar gets on top of you, you are not making it out. I couldn’t believe he gave up his mount for an arm triangle but at the end of the day, it got the job done.

So yes, this was an amazing card and I am very excited to see the fallout from this one. Lesnar will go onto face Cain Velasquez in the coming months and I have no doubt that he will steamroll him too. Lesnar is just a man-mountain and it will take someone really special to take him off the top. I don’t think Velasquez is as good as Carwin or as much of a threat but time will tell.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Brock Lesnar. Brock Lesnar. Brock Lesnar. I'll be honest, I thought that cunt was dead in the first round. As it is, he wasn't and he's still the UFC Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the world. A pretty impressive performance, too - I don't think anybody was expecting him to win by submission. After he got up from that beating, I think he effectively conducted a face turn; which was completed with the uncharacteristically humble speech he gave at the end of the match.

When I suddenly saw Paul Heyman behind him, well, that was pretty surreal. And hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swnM_VaXRbA

 

[Super Hans]

Well im gonna say that this is the best card i have ever seen.From top to bottom this card produced the goods,even the prelims had some cracking fights.Leben pulled out a stunning sub on akiyama,Lytle looked done in the 1st and pulled out the sub in the 2nd,a great stand up banging brawl with Bonnar.And big Brock looking cooked in the 1st round had me awe struck only to pull it out the fire.

All in all a fantastic card.

 

[The Con Volt]

This is actually the first UFC card I bought. And THANK THE LORD I did so. It was absolutely stellar. A slight majority of people thought Carwin was gonna come away with it last night. And even more thought Akiyama was gonna kill Leben. But to see both men (Lesnar and Leben) defy the odds and make both of the favored fighters tap the fuck out was the epitome of glorious. Bravo gentlemen.

 

[Slyfox696]

Brock Lesnar proved tonight that he is a rounded fighter and there is no debate about that.

He proved he's got one hell of a chin and defense, that he can take a beating and still strive further, and that he is becoming well rounded fighter. Even though I said an arm lock, I knew Brock would submit Carwin.

We must have been watching a completely different fight. Where is this "well-rounded" fighter stuff coming from? Lesnar was completely outclassed in the boxing game, and his ground defense ranged from mediocre to non-existent. He never did anything to keep Carwin from raining down blows on his head, he never tried to pull guard, and his ground defense on his back was virtually non-existent.

Furthermore, Brock Lesnar won by taking his opponent to the ground, and wrestling on top of him. How is that becoming a well-rounded fighter? Just because he locked in one choke, doesn't make him a well rounded fighter. Lesnar did two things last night; he got his head punched in, and he outwrestled Carwin. That's it. There's nothing about being a well-rounded fighter there.

Now, props to Brock for showing the heart of a champion. I'm glad Brock won, I enjoy watching him as champion. But, he didn't show himself to be a well-rounded fighter, he just showed himself again as the fairly one-dimensional fighter he's been.


As for the rest of the card...just wow. I can't count the number of times where I was gushing over how the fighters were standing toe-to-toe and throwing hands. Every fight on the PPV was good...the least exciting fight (Lytle/Brown) would have been a good fight on any other card. Like someone else said, if buyrates were determined upon quality of card, this would be one of the best ever.

A great great show. And one the UFC needed after the last couple of shows they've had.

 

[INDYjon22]

We must have been watching a completely different fight. Where is this "well-rounded" fighter stuff coming from? Lesnar was completely outclassed in the boxing game, and his ground defense ranged from mediocre to non-existent. He never did anything to keep Carwin from raining down blows on his head, he never tried to pull guard, and his ground defense on his back was virtually non-existent.

Furthermore, Brock Lesnar won by taking his opponent to the ground, and wrestling on top of him. How is that becoming a well-rounded fighter? Just because he locked in one choke, doesn't make him a well rounded fighter. Lesnar did two things last night; he got his head punched in, and he outwrestled Carwin. That's it. There's nothing about being a well-rounded fighter there.

Now, props to Brock for showing the heart of a champion. I'm glad Brock won, I enjoy watching him as champion. But, he didn't show himself to be a well-rounded fighter, he just showed himself again as the fairly one-dimensional fighter he's been.


As for the rest of the card...just wow. I can't count the number of times where I was gushing over how the fighters were standing toe-to-toe and throwing hands. Every fight on the PPV was good...the least exciting fight (Lytle/Brown) would have been a good fight on any other card. Like someone else said, if buyrates were determined upon quality of card, this would be one of the best ever.

A great great show. And one the UFC needed after the last couple of shows they've had.

I never said Brock Lesnar is becoming a WELL ROUNDED fighter, Sly. I said that he is becoming ROUNDED. I don't see how you can even deny it. Brock Lesnar from two years ago wouldn't have even tried to attempt a submission but he is finally becoming more comfortable in the cage and trying new things. Nobody expected a submission from Lesnar and if they did then I give them major props, because no one knew he could. And granted it was against a guy who we didn't know how he would look in the second round or if he had submission defenses but a submission win is very impressive from Lesnar. Lesnar is not becoming well rounded but he is showing that he is working on all aspects of his game and is improving.

 

[jmt225]

This was easily the show of the year thus far.

Brock Lesnar... wow, what can you say? I agree with Sly that the guy still needs a lot of improvement. I mean, off his back he is simply utter trash; it's like he doesn't even know how to pull guard. But regardless of that, Brock showed a tremendous amount of heart last night. He got his ass completely kicked in that 1st round and hung in there to not only survive, but actually come back and win the fight. It was unbelievable.

Props to Shane Carwin too though. If he had a better gas tank, there's no doubt he would have won last night, but he gave everything he had in that first round and it ended up costing him deeply. However, that still doesn't take away what he did in that first round. He showed, to me anyway, that he is 100% legit and will undoubtedly be a top 10 Heavyweight for quite a while. He really, really impressed me last night.

Chris Leben... again, what can you say? He's another one that showed a ton of heart last night. Coming into the 3rd Round, he was down 2-0 and he had to do something drastic to take it... and he did. It was extremely impressive. I mean, not only did he hang in there after taking a bit of an ass whoopin' those first two rounds, but he submitted a Judo black belt. That really shows just how much Leben has improved since his stint on The Ultimate Fighter. Much, much props to him, and I can't wait to see him fight again.

As far as Sexyama... you still have to give a lot of credit to him as well. Even after some resistance to take the fight, he took it and came out and gave it his all. He might have lost, but he can hang with the UFC's elite fighters, no doubt about that. I'm looking forward to seeing what the future has in stored for him as well.

Chris Lytle. That is all.

Stephan Bonnar finally getting a win again was really good to see, especially against a ******** like Krzysztof Soszynski . People say Bonnar has a job with the UFC for life... well, I don't necessarily agree with that. He needed that win badly last night and I, for one, am very glad he got it. And not only did he win, but he finished Krzysztof... makes the win that much sweeter.

No surprise to see George Sotiropoulos win his fight. He was simply the far superior fighter, and hopefully now he gets a step-up in competition. He should definitely get the winner of Florian/Maynard, with the winner of that getting a shot at the Lightweight Championship.

And lastly... I was very happy to hear that Kendall Grove won his fight against Goran Reljic. After all the unnecessary shit he took last week, he needed this win perhaps more than any other he's had in his career to this point. For now his job is safe and secure, and as a Kendall Grove fan... that makes me a happy camper.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

Jmt, guard wasn't really an option that was available to Lesnar. Because of the way he went down and the fact that Carwin had the wherewithal to attack from the side knowing that Lesnar being pinned up against the cage would work to his advantage, turtling was Lesnar's only option. That's, actually, the only intelligent position Lesnar had available to him that wouldn't have exposed his face to massive shots from Carwin.

He did exactly what he could do, turtle up and hope that Carwin gassed, which proved to be the exact thing that happened. I've said, on more than one occasion, that Lesnar is a one-trick pony and will be dethroned and exposed, however, in this instance, Lesnar pretty much did the best thing he could have possibly done from that position.

 

[X]

Wanted to wait until I'd seen the entire show to make a post in here. Overall a very entertaining show from start to finish with a few very good fights, definitely one of the better UFC PPVs I've seen thus far this year.

I was very disappointed to see Seth Petruzelli lose in the prelims and most likely injure himself in his return bout in the UFC, I've been a fan of his for awhile and I was hoping he'd be able to make an impact immediately in his return, but he made a mistake and Romero took advantage of it, looked like Petruzelli was really hurt too. Romero looked very impressive though after the shots he took in the first round.

I loved seeing Brendan Schaub take care of Tuchscherer in about 60 seconds, Schaub has been impressive as of late and it appears his training with Carwin has paid off a good deal. Kid's got a bright future.

Akiyama vs. Leben was fucking great, fight of the night for sure. JMT has got me sold big time on Akiyama and even though he didn't win the fight, he impressed the hell out of me. Leben continues to just be a fucking beast, big win here for him especially considering he had a grueling fight only a few weeks ago against Aaron Simpson. When Leben was pounding away on Akiyama's head while holding him in the triangle choke, man, how could you not root for the dude there? I'm very high on both men, loved Leben calling out Wanderlei Silva as well. Just a great fight.

Lesnar vs. Carwin...what can you say that hasn't already been covered, Brock took a SERIOUS ass whooping in the first round, to the point where some people are event debating whether or not the ref should have stopped the fight in that first round while Carwin was pounding away on Lesnar on the mat for what seemed like minutes. I disagree with that thought though, you've got to let a huge championship fight like this go until you have a winner without a doubt. Like most others I thought Lesnar was dead in that first round and that Carwin would be walking away with the belt, but Carwin's inexperience in long fights is what did him in here as he was clearly just absolutely gassed when the second round started. Lesnar looked much better on the ground than he has in his previous fights I thought, but really he almost kind of lucked into that submission and the victory. But hey, a win is a win, regardless of the fashion. Very fun fight to watch as a fan of Lesnar's as you saw the classic come-from-behind victory here. Like JMT I'm very impressed with Carwin though, atleast his explosiveness and power, I honestly did not think he could match the sheer power of Lesnar, but he absolutely did. Now if he can work on some endurance and conditioning, he's going to be an even more dangerous fighter. There's really no excuse for being gassed after the first round though, even if you are a heavyweight.

Overall, just a great show, no doubt about it. These last few PPVs have really gotten me back into MMA after having lost interest for several months.

 

[Y4J]

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=12010&zoneid=2

"In laymen’s terms, Carwin was pushing himself to such an extreme in trying to finish Lesnar with his relentless ground and pound that the lactic acid that built up in his muscles reached a level that was too much for his body to handle, thus it started to shutdown."

Man, I can only imagine how hard he was swinging. Crazy that Brock survived that..

I'm a huge Brock fan, but Carwin is a class act. If anyone I think is going to beat Brock, it'll be him.

Great read.

 

[Maxx]

Well if they were to have another fight,this would be the type of rematch that despite what happened on their last fight. It would be hard to predict who will win.
Even if Lesnar made Carwin tap out, Carwin must have learned something about that loss and would most likely think better for his next fight. That's right, there are no excuses but in a rematch it would still be hard to guess a winner.