Lesnar vs. Carwin

Probably won't last too long though.

Tyty. Solid fight. Impressive performance by both, but Lesnar is an animal. If only the Klitschko bros knew how to wrestle...

I went to the fights tonight with 5 other 2+2ers, first live MMA experience... wow. What a card, will definitely be going again.

I love the shot from 8:52-8:55. It's like he's saying to himself 'Holy **** that worked!'

Cool.
Did you notice a pile of poker players at it?

I'd imagine it was full of them at this time of year.

iron chin holy ****. i was going for carwin the whole fight but damn mad respect for lesnar for surviving that first round

this

Sakuraba: "In fact, pro wrestling is strong." Sakuraba envisioned this night 13 years in advance.

Carwin should have stood Brock up. Lesnar did a great job of inducing Carwin to tire himself out.

Carwin threw way too many punches with Brock on the ground. He should have took his time and went for bigger, more leveraged strikes every five seconds.

I hope Carwins gets a rematch, was an awesome fight.

Went there tonight. Awesome awesome card from start to finish. Leben/Akiyama was an outstanding fight. Got there a little late, first bout I see was the Harris slam KO. I've rarely seen a crowd as fired up as they were for the entire main event.

id say the finish was more impressive, with him still able to pull it off even after taking a beating, and i thought he was very very lucky to survive the 1st round because the ref was very lenient as i thought it could have been stopped easily when Lesnar was taking a pounding.

maybe im just used to the refs (Mazzagatti) making dumb decisions regarding stopping guys too quickly.



great show, well worth staying up past 5am.

lol, those guys barely know how to box.

I rarely if ever watch MMA but I've seen a few highlights here and there. Wouldn't nearly every match be stopped during that Round 1 assault? Why wasn't this one? Simply because it's Lesnar?

I thought Carwin was .018246 seconds away from winning for about 10 seconds. That was really close to being stopped. Excellent fight either way.

I think it's a pretty safe bet the UFC referees all understand that they are not to call a TKO on Lesnar due to punishment no matter what. He ain't being stopped til the eyes roll back in his head or he's choked out.

It was a good job by the ref and it's a shame that isn't more standard. Lesnar's arms are huge and he was covering his entire face. He also kicked Carwin away a few times. He was clearly intelligently defending himself. It annoys me a lot of times when guys get stopped when they're blocking punches just because they're not able to get up at that moment. Sometimes you need to weather the storm and wait before trying to escape. If you try to escape while the guy is punching you, you have a higher chance of getting ktfo.

I know Vitali was a kickboxer, but there's no way they'd do MMA. They make a lot boxing and they don't have any real competition, except each other, but that will never happen. MMA $ wouldn't come close to what they make. Easy money for them.

I don't like generally like Lesnar, but I'll give it to him, he stayed very composed in a tough spot and should not have been stopped there. But it was close, and a lot of guys not named Brock Lesnar are TKO'd there. I really don't think there's anything that can be done to Brock to get a TKO called, you're gonna have to put him all the way out.

+1

I really thought Lesnar was pretty good with his defense when he was on the ground. IMO, the big mistake for him was covering up with both hands and putting his head down so that he didn't see Carwin's uppercut coming up under his guard. I think not seeing that punch was what stunned him and caused him to stumble. I'm sure he can correct this and learn how to slip punches better. As for Carwin, I think if he quit his full time job he'd have a better shot. It's pretty amazing to see what he was able to do as a part time fighter.

Carwin didn't "get caught." He was put on his back where most people that know anything figured he would be a lost cause and choked out. That isn't getting caught as it is just getting owned.

And Carwin isn't getting a rematch right after Lesnar beats Velasquez. There is no way that is happening as Junior dos Santos is next in line if he beats Roy Nelson. If Nelson wins that fight, though, I could see him v. Carwin for a shot at the title.

i wouldnt be surprised if dos santos has to go through carwin first

Nah Dana has already said Dos Santos gets the next title shot if he beats Nelson.

Dana could change his mind, but he's stated that Cain is next and if JDS beats Nelson, he's after that.

If JDS loses to Nelson, you could see a Nelson-Carwin fight for a title shot.

Ok, so my thoughts on the main event last night, with a little bit of time to reflect:

What we learned:

Shane Carwin's power is not a myth. If he hits you, you are in trouble. Anyone, anywhere. His GNP can be vicious as well.

Lesnar looked both weak and strong. If you have power, and you can hit Lesnar sqaure on the button, he won't react that well. He used the Tito shell and backed up, and was dazed.

However, he must have an iron chin. Carwin has KO'd every other UFC opponent in the first round, and he cleanly tagged Lesnar, hurt him, and then GNPed him viciously, and Lesnar survived impressively.

Carwin's gas tank is indeed very suspect. Lesnar was noticeably the fresher fighter in the second round and even at the end of the first round.

Lesnar did have a decided wrestling edge. The first shot was barely stopped by Carwin, and while he did a good job eventually stuffing it, it was clear Lesnar was going to be the more dangerous wrestler. Lesnar was likely only seconds away from a takedown at the end of R1, and easily got one in R2 (although carwin was gassed).

Lesnar knows submissions. That was an excellent technical set up. Watch as he softens Carwin up with strikes from the half-guard, the whole time he is looking for that grip. His right arm is in position deeply underhooking Carwin's left arm the whole time. Brock's left arm is not in position, so he lands a few shots and then when Carwin opens a little bit, he grabs the choke and transitions to mount, and then to side control on the opposite side. From there, it's already locked in and it's hard to escape that kind of choke from a guy like Lesnar (because strength is a factor, unlike some other subs). That choke is rarely used directly from side control, but you see high level grapplers set it up from half-guard and make that exact same transition.

What we did not learn:

I wouldn't call Lesnar's stand up terrible, as several ITT have. It's worse than Carwin's, for sure. But you're vastly overreacting to 20 seconds where Lesnar was tagged and hurt. Let's not ignore that he outstruck every fighter he's faced before this. He's dropped Mir, Herring, and Randy, and generally looked pretty good standing. He took a few blows from Mir and Randy as well, so his chin seems ok against non-Carwin fighters.

I wouldn't hop off the Carwin bandwagon either. He doesn't necessarily have terrible grappling or sub-defense, as he likely wasn't training for the possibility of having to use them. His gas tank is suspect, for sure. That's the kind of thing that can be improved, though.

In a rematch, I'd have no idea who to pick. I don't think Lesnar would get tagged so badly in the opening minute a second time around. I also think Carwin's gas tank would be better. I'd love to see it though. There's also the issue of Brock's layoff, illness and ring-rust. Was this Brock better than the old Brock because he was healed, or worse because of the ring rust, or about the same? Who knows...

Cain Velasquez is in trouble imo. Clear disadvantage wrestling. Clear athleticism/size disadvantage. Striking, who knows? He knocked out Nog but all the cool kids are knocking out Nog these days. I don't think there is a clear-cut edge in striking. I don't see Cain able to KO Brock or take a decision from him very often.

Rest of the card was awesome as well, but I feel like I've typed too much already.

lol, Lesnar is going to **** Cain up. Big time.

I still want to see Lesnar-Fedor, f the haters.