Brock Lesnar retains his UFC belt
Congratulations to UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar for retaining his belt and withstanding a tough first round against challenger Shane Carwin at UFC 116 in Las Vegas on Saturday. Carwin won the first round by displaying a ground and pound unlike anything Lesnar had seen in his previous five fights.
After Carwin connected on an uppercut in the first round, Lesnar looked unsure of himself while trying to box with Carwin.
After the fight went to the ground, referee Josh Rosenthal kept a close eye on the jabs and elbows that landed on Lesnar.
I have seen many referees stop fights with far less punishment, but I think Rosenthal made the right decision to let the fight continue past the first round.
Going into the fight, I thought Lesnar had to take it to the ground and Carwin had to keep the fight on his feet. But, after seeing the fight, I have to wonder if Lesnar’s game plan was to have Carwin punch himself out, and he would eventually win the match in the later rounds.
Lesnar and Carwin showed some flaw in their MMA fighting game. Clearly, Lesnar has to work on his standup and Carwin his cardio.
After the fight, Lesnar said, “I just had to weather the storm. He’s got some heavy shots. I just had to hang back. I knew he was getting tired. Each shot was less dramatic than the other, and I thought, ‘I’ll just let him go.’”
This fight was voted the “Submission of the Night.” I clearly disagree. I think the Chris Leben and Yoshihiro Akiyama fight should have won.
The co-main event of Leben and Akiyama was the biggest slug fest of any of the fights on the card. Leben has a chin of steel and a heart to match.
On several occasions after being hit with a punch, you thought Leben was out on his feet. Leben persevered and won by submission with a triangle choke in the third round. This fight was named the “Fight of the Night”.
Other fight results:
Chris Lyte submitted Matt Brown
Stephan Bonnar won by a TKO (punches) over Krzysztof Soszynski
George Sotiropoulos won by unanimous decision over Kurt Pellegrino
Brendan Schaub won by a TKO (punches) over Chris Tuchscherer
Ricardo Romero won by submission over Seth Petruzelli
Kendall Grove won by a split decision over Goran Reljic
Gerald Harris won by KO (slam) over Dave Branch
Daniel Roberts won by split decision over Forrest Petz
Jon Madsen won by unanimous decision over Karlos Vemola
Do you think they should have stopped the Lesnar vs. Carwin fight in the first round?
Does Cain Velasquez have a chance against Brock Lesnar?
Kevin Richardson has been a fan of mixed martial arts competition ever since UFC 3, when 600-pound sumo wrestler Emmanuel Yarborough was beaten by Keith Hackney. Kevin will cover the world of MMA — in Baltimore, nationally and internationally. He plans to take readers into the locker rooms and MMA schools, where they'll hear from local fighters and trainers. If you have a news tip or suggestions for the blog, please 
Comments
Shane Carwin should have knocked out Lesnar... Lesnar in my eyes was lucky to win!!! He was very humble afterwards though and gained my respect... Watch the fight here: http://www.lionsdenu.com/lesnar-vs-carwin-fight-video/
Posted by: Tim Alvine | July 4, 2010 8:56 AM
Brock Lesnar is the best UFC chapion. He will retain for the champion for long time
Posted by: zolar | July 4, 2010 10:29 AM
Kevin,
I thought the referee did a hell of a job in the Lesnar - Carwin fight. Lesnar never got hit with more then one or two big shots in a row while on the ground so Carwin was never able to capitalize fully in the GnP. I thought Lesnar did enough to "intelligently defend himself" while on the ground as well. He'd block punches with his arms and would attempt to buck Carwin back at times also.
I wouldn't say that Carwin necessarily has bad cardio and that he needs to work on it, he just simply punched himself out much too quickly.
And come on, you have to give Lesnar Submission of the Night. Who'd of thought that's how the fight would end?
Props to Chris Leben for two wins in two weeks and that arm triangle, George Sotiropolous for just being slick on the ground, and Gerald Harris for his Rampage knockout slam!
Posted by: TH | July 4, 2010 5:57 PM
It was a great card. Disappoint that Carwin couldn't pull it off, but still a great card. I thought Chris Lytle deserved submission of the night. Leben and Lesnar pulled off submissions on extremely tired guys who were going to tap to anything. Lytle worked his way from full mount, jumped into side, got a triangle and pulled off an armbar. I felt like he showed the most skill out of Lesnar and Leben.
Posted by: Phi | July 5, 2010 8:13 AM
Rumors have it that Cain might fight Brock in September, thats a very quick turn around for Brock. It seems like almost anybody has a chance against Brock if it doesn't goto the ground. Brock has the worst stand up out of all the champs.
Posted by: Phi | July 6, 2010 12:33 PM
With this win, Brock Lesnar is definitely rankable amongst the all-time best UFC fighters! Probably not the best (yet) but I wouldn't put it past him to improve in the next 3-5 years and retire as "the best" in widespread popular opinion.
Lesnar is an interesting study though, since I think a lot of people resented him for his WWE roots and related attitude, so he immediately became a guy people loved to hate or just simply hated.
I watched this fight from a standing-room-only bar in Tucson, AZ (I'm a regular reader of Kevin Eck's Ring Posts so he directed me here) and the gentleman standing next to me said that he had been waiting to see Brock Lesnar lose for a long time but now he wasn't sure he was ready.
During the fight, he cheered Brock 100%. Afterwards, he turned to me and said with a hint of surprise, "I guess I am a Brock Lesnar fan now."
I have a feeling there are many fans like him out there who are coming around to enjoy, appreciate, AND respect Brock Lesnar as a champion.
Mr. Sarcasm
I was not a Brock fan going into this fight as well, but Brock really showed me humble side of himself that I can respect. With that being said, I don't think he is going to be the best MMA fight our of time. He needs to stand up game, he is still a one dimensional fighter.
-Kevin R.
Posted by: Mr. Sarcasm | July 7, 2010 1:18 PM