Shane Carwin Confirms he will face Brock Lesnar

On his website, Shane Carwin has confirmed he has verbally agreed to fight Brock Lesnar at the upcoming UFC 106 event.

From Shane-Carwin.com:

I have verbally been offered the fight with Brock and I have verbally accepted this fight. My manager and the UFC are handling the the details. I am honored that the UFC has given me this opportunity. The fans of this sport are what makes MMA so great. I expect to be fighting at UFC 106 in November.

Shane Carwin, who is currently 11-0, including an impressive knockout in the 1st round of Gabriel Gonzaga, is a good match-up against Lesnar. At 6' 3" tall and weighing 265 pounds, he nearly equals Brock in size and stature, in fact he his 5XL gloves are bigger than Brock Lesnar's 4XL gloves. Carwin has a top amateur wrestling pedigree as well, and boasts some serious knockout power. Most of his fights end in the first minute or so of the fight, but it remains to be seen if he can stay off his back in a match against Lesnar.

Dana White comments on Bobby Lashley

"Yes, we're watching him". Those were the words that Dana White used to answer the question regarding the WWE's other MMA product. Lashley, in contrast to UFC Champion, Brock Lesnar, has fought on relatively small shows. His biggest name fight was his last fight against former K1 star, and all around big dude, Bob Sapp. That was a quick 1 round rout, but Sapp has little skills beyond just pummeling guys, and Lashley isn't much smaller than him. At 6' 3" tall and almost 260 pounds, he might be the closest thing to Brock Lesnar in terms of size and athleticism. He also carries with him an impeccable amateur wrestling record as well where he won 3 national titles at Missouri Valley College.

Lashley could become next year's (fall 2010) consolation prize to the Fedor Emelianenko sweepstakes. Fedor recently signed a 3 fight deal with Strikeforce, and those 3 fights are expected to take him through fall of 2010. The UFC will likely be major players for Fedor's services next year, the same as they were this year. If Brock Lesnar can continue winning against the UFC's top heavyweight talent, the UFC will be pressed hard by fans, and their own need to generate a buzz, to sign Fedor and make the biggest match in MMA history a reality. If Brock however falters, losing the title, the UFC will be after Fedor's services to build the heavyweight division around him. Dana White likes his stars, and having a star that has no one left to fight can be bad for business.

That said, the UFC still has a number of top contenders (Noguiera, Couture, Velasquez, Carwin, Kongo, and a rematch with Mir) so the possibility of Lesnar no longer being the heavyweight champ this time next year certainly is not out of the question. Lesnar has beat Couture and Mir already, and has stated after the second Mir fight that he has no interest in fighting Frank Mir again, explaining that he doesn't want to keep fighting the "same guys". Not sure how he would have felt about that had Mir had the real belt as opposed to the "Interim belt" and turned down a rematch with Lesnar after already beating him once, but I digress.

That would leave Noguiera, who has seemed more interested in the 205 weight class as of late, Velasquez and Carwin will face each other next with the winner getting a shot at Lesnar, and Kongo looked horrible against Velasquez in his last outing, so he may not be a dream matchup. So Lesnar would likely face the winner of the Vleasquez/Carwin match, followed by a potential match with Kongo or Noguiera, or both. That would take him to the free agent period where Lashley and Fedor could become part of the UFC and Lesnar's next round of competition.

Bobby Lashley would be an interesting matchup for Brock. He nearly equals him in size, speed, athleticism, experience, and both have remarkable amateur backgrounds. They are virtual mirror images of each other. The only difference: Lashley is earning his stripes, while Lesnar was handed a title shot against a guy 40 pounds lighter, more that 10 years older, and fresh off an extended retirement period. By the time that fight would happen, it may not matter though, Lesnar does appear to be learning quicker than Lashley, and with the lineup of opponents he faces yet, is likely to be the more prepared fighter next year. Still, Lashley may have something at that time that Lesnar wants and can never get, an undefeated record.

Fedor signs with Strikeforce

Well, the dream of Fedor fighting the top heavyweights in the world appears to be dead for the moment. Fedor Emelianenko, and his M1 handlers have decided to sign with Strikeforce. M1 issued a statement refuting early reports of a 6 fight $30 million dollar deal offered by Dana White and the UFC. Sports Illustrated also dicredited those early reports, M1 also added that the offer from the UFC was less than what Fedor was currently making per fight.

Tough to determine what was actually offered. On the one hand, the UFC has every reason to leak a huge dollar offer to try to show their fans that they did "everything" they could to land the world's best heavyweight fighter. On the other hand, M1 would have all the motivation in the world to go public with a lower than advertised offer to explain why Fedor would choose a smaller promotion over the UFC.

Who knows, at least with Strikeforce Fedor's fights will be free to those who have Showtime. Its tough to see much opposition for him however, current heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem would seem to offer little challenge to someone of Fedor's stature. They do have Brett Rogers (of Arlovski KO fame), as well as Bob Sapp. Sapp would be a walk in the park for Fedor, but is a big name, Rogers is still rather green, but could be an interesting bout. Certainly no Lesnar, Couture, Mir, or Noguiera though.

Here is the portion of the report from Sports Illustrated (click to read full article):

"We tried everything that we could possibly do to get Fedor into the UFC, we went above and beyond," said White, who drew a line in the sand over the proposal of co-promotion. "I have been able to sign the best fighters in the world over the last 10 years into the UFC."

However, "it does not give us a chance to do what we as a company, including Fedor, are wanting to and planning to do," said the fighter's long-time manager and partner, Vadim Finkelchtein.

Rumors of a six-fight, $30 million deal from the UFC were shot down by Emelianenko's camp. Sources inside M-1 Global told SI.com that the UFC offer was for half as many fights at a rate less than what Emelianenko currently receives from his promotional company.

Emelianenko's reply to the UFC the following day didn't need translation. Addressing a small contingent of media gathered at a makeshift press conference in Anaheim, Calif., Emelianenko wore a pullover emblazoned with the EA Sports logo, a clear dismissal of White's decree that fighters wishing to compete in the UFC would refrain from signing a deal with the video game giant.

UFC 100 Results

Brock Lesnar had a good strategy going in to his fight against Frank Mir... Do not get overly aggressive, take your time, and use your size to wear out, and sap the energy out of your opponent. It worked, in round 2 of the scheduled 5 round fight, Brock had tired out Frank Mir enough, sat on him while inflicting baby punches long enough, that Frank Mir attempted to make a move, and paid the price. Lesnar capitalized with a few real damaging punches, and the fight was stopped, Lesnar unifying the 2 UFC heavyweight titles.

Lesnar came to the ring in predictable fashion. The guy has 0 personality/originality, so he went to the "tough guy" playbook, and predictably came out to "Enter Sandman" by Metalica. He strutted around, looked the part of the schoolyard bully, and after the fight, didn't disappoint those who are in to that sort of thing. As Mir's corner helped him up, Lesnar ran over, bumped Mir, and talked more trash as the crowd booed, he then proceeded to rip the event's sponsor, and tell us what he would do to his wife later in the night. Hopefully he doesn't break grandma's hips.

Dana White needs to get his pet on a leash. The guy is not house broken, he is too stupid to decipher the difference between the world of "sports entertainment" where performers sell story lines and that of real competition where athletes and world class fighters compete in tactical battle, and for the most part show sportsmanship along the way.

It appears Dana White agreed. Lesnar, in a post fight press conference, apologized to the promotion, apologized to Bud Light, and sort of apologized to Frank Mir. Like everything else about Lesnar however, talk is cheap, lets see how he behaves in the future... hopefully he will take lessons from some of the other athletes that fought on this night, guys like GSP, Dan Henderson, and even his opponent, Frank Mir, who even in defeat, and even after the spectacle Lesnar created, showed great sportsmanship, and refrained from sinking to Lesnar's level.