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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
"I kind of figured Shane was going to win, though I know anything can happen in this sport. I was kind of laying back and I didn’t want to count any chickens before they hatched. Shane’s a tough guy and I just know that Frank’s time is done. This is the new evolution of the heavyweight division. Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, we’re the guys in this division... This belt thing, well, hopefully he enjoys the moment. He should enjoy the win over Frank, but he has to realize that I’m the heavyweight champion. Everybody knows that. Good for him winning that fake belt... I had to pull out against him last fall and I didn’t feel good about that. But I couldn’t fight a guy like that if I wasn’t in the best shape of my life. I had to do what I had to do."
-Brock Lesnar talks to Kevin Iole at Yahoo! Sports after Shane Carwin's victory over Frank Mir at UFC 111 about Carwin's win and letting Carwin know he's still the real Champion.
Penick's Analysis: The talk between Lesnar and Carwin will just heat up over the next three months heading into their showdown at UFC 116. That fight will be one of the biggest in the UFC's history, and Carwin launched himself into that spot with an excellent knockout over Mir. Lesnar's right here, too, in that Carwin's win put a final nail on the "old guard" in the UFC's heavyweight division.
After Cain Velasquez dispatched of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira last month and Dos Santos took out Gonzaga just last weekend, now more than ever the new blood is taking over the top of the division. It highlights even more why Fedor Emelianenko should be in the UFC, and should be trying to prove his status as the number one heavyweight against the top fighters of today.
The way Velasquez, Dos Santos, Carwin and Lesnar have taken care of their opponents to such a point that I don't believe anyone Fedor will be facing out of the organization can provide the same difficulties that those four fighters would. It's just the way the division is now.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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