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The Next Big Thing
11 Jun 2010
By Ben Cartlidge
It’s hard to know where to start when looking at a fight that has the potential to be the most cataclysmic locking of horns since Theseus fought the Minotaur. On July 3rd 2010 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena we finally get to see the return of Brock Lesnar; a UFC champion who would have come to the destination that he currently finds himself if he’d have been born at any point in time. Every age in history tells us the story of a Brock Lesnar; a warrior king who destroyed all in his path and who was feared for as far as his reputation was carried.
"One finds life through conquering the fear of death within one's mind. Empty the mind of all forms of attachment, make a go-for-broke charge and conquer the opponent with one decisive slash." - Togo Shigekata.
Brock Lesnar is perhaps the most destructive and certainly the most physically imposing champion that the UFC has produced. A behemoth covered in tattoos depicting war in its many forms; a freak alpha male with the unique genetic ability to be as powerful as a four hundred pound man but retain the speed of a lightweight. Lesnar looks like he was drawn by Sega. Maybe that’s why there is always a fascination with him and why the fight public always turn in to watch him compete. He remains an athlete that everyone has an opinion on, irrespective of if you are pro or anti.
Since his inception into the UFC back in early 2008 everyone has been watching the Minnesota native’s every action inside the Octagon. He was clearly prepared for a certain amount of abuse from the mma community regarding his pro wrestling background. What most casual fans failed to see was that, before his pro wrestling career, Lesnar had one of the most dominant collegiate wrestling careers that the sport had ever seen. He came into mixed martial arts with the perfect base for developing a skill-set that would give anyone problems when it was coupled with his herculean stature.
Following on from a controversial loss to Frank Mir, Lesnar’s path of destruction would soon pick up momentum as he steamrolled his way through challenge after challenge. He pulverized Heath Herring and hammered Randy Couture into the canvas like a pneumatic ram, on route to a rematch with Mir.
At UFC 100 Brock Lesnar got his wish and faced off against the only man to blemish his record. Frank Mir looked in phenomenal shape but seemed helpless against the rampaging Lesnar. In one of the most brutal displays of ground and pound that I have ever witnessed, Mir was pinned down and hammered repeatedly by the Megatron sized fists of Lesnar.
It was almost like Lesnar was the last boss on an arcade machine and Frank Mir had just run out of money. All the time that Lesnar was pillaging through the UFC another giant was making his mark on the same division.
Greg Jackson product Shane Carwin had taken a much less published path to the UFC but his results had been no less devastating. Before getting the call from Joe Silva, Carwin had amassed an impressive 8-0 record in less than nine minutes. Nobody had any answers to the punching power of Carwin but he had also shown an equal number of submissions in his winning streak.
At UFC 84 it took just forty four seconds for Carwin to dispatch Christian Wellisch with a savage right hook and announce his presence to the rest of the division. He presented a unique set of problems for anyone who would stand in his way. The knockout that he burst into the UFC with was just a taste of the power that he carried in his hands. After bulldozing Neil Wain, Carwin was given his first real test against former UFC title competitor Gabriel Gonzaga. In another breathtakingly short fight, Shane caught two huge punches from the Brazilian and looked to be in trouble early on. However Carwin would not be finished so easily and after he was able to get up from the ground following a Gonzaga takedown he leveled his foe with a short right hand, the first round was barely a minute old.
The questions about Carwin’s chin had been answered and he was given his chance to fight for the title against Brock at UFC 106. The title shot was everything that Carwin had worked for and his camp quickly began working on a strategy to dethrone the champion.
"Now the reason the enlightened prince and the wise general conquer the enemy whenever they move and their achievements surpass those of ordinary men is foreknowledge." - Sun Tzu.
When the news broke that Brock Lesnar would not be able to fight due to illness there was an air of scepticism in the mma community. Lesnar was clearly not a man to back away from a challenge but a potentially lethal combination of Mononucleosis and Diverticulitis left him requiring surgery and left Carwin sitting and waiting. The UFC had little choice but to once again create an interim title and declare Frank Mir and Shane Carwin the combatants. This would represent the biggest obstacle in his Carwin’s path but he took a relentless approach to training again and the results were impressive to say the least.
Once again Mir was the unfortunate victim of yet another super heavyweight annihilation as Carwin bullied him from the clinch then leveled him with a lightning series of uppercuts that turned the lights out in a hurry. Carwin claimed the belt and immediately Brock Lesnar walked into the Octagon to congratulate him and to give the public their first view of this colossal encounter.
That brings us to where we are today, less than a month away from the Carwin vs. Lesnar fight. Lesnar can take anyone walking the face of the planet down with his explosive shot and his freakish level of athleticism but there can’t be human being who can take a clean shot from Shane Carwin. There are questions to be asked in this fight that make it intriguing as a sporting contest as well as a spectacle. How will Lesnar’s chin hold up to Carwin’s bowling ball sized fists? How well will either man do off their back and will cardio prove to be an issue?
Carwin brings a destructive power that not a lot of heavyweights possess. He knocked out Gabriel Gonzaga with a punch that can’t have travelled more than a few feet. That kind of accelerative impact means that he doesn’t need a big gap to throw a knockout punch. However, Lesnar is a unique human being with more destructive potential than is humanly imaginable and has the quickest shot in heavyweight mma. Lesnar is also evolving as a mixed martial artist all the time but hasn’t fought in nearly twelve months.
“If a warrior is to succeed at anything, the success must come gently, with a great deal of effort but with no stress or obsession.” – Carlos Castaneda.
All I will say is that if you only get chance to watch one fight this summer I would recommend this to be the one. I can not imagine anything more apocalyptic than seeing a giant like Brock Lesnar or Shane Carwin lying unconscious in the middle of the octagon with the victor standing above them looking down on their conquest. There has not been two more athletically gifted and powerful heavyweights fighting for a UFC title in the history of the organisation and this fight represents the evolution of heavyweight mma as much as the evolution of Lesnar and Carwin. They represent the new generation of super heavyweights who cut weight to make the limit and who display work rates that put many welterweights to shame. One thing’s for sure, something era defining will happen on July 3rd and whether you’re a fan of the sport or not is incidental, you really can’t afford to miss this one.
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