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There's little question that this Saturday's fight between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin will determine the new #1 Heavyweight in the world. Some will say that Fedor Emelianenko is still #1, but he just lost. A guy who just lost can't remain #1, especially not with the Lesnar vs. Carwin fight looming.
UFC 116 could be the biggest event in UFC history, at least in terms of buyrate, as the Lesnar vs. Carwin fight is intriguing on many levels. First and foremost, both guys are basically the same size and neither one will have much of a size advantage on the other. Secondly, both men are facing the toughest challenge of their respective careers.
Shane Carwin has never fought a guy like Brock Lesnar, a fighter with such a combination of speed and power. At the same time, Brock Lesnar has never fought anyone like Shane Carwin, a fighter with such overwhelming power. It's not as though Brock is weak, but Carwin has much more punching power. However, Brock has the advantage in agility.
Both guys are going to get their chins tested like never before, and I'm expecting a big knockout in this fight. Unless Shane Carwin does something really stupid, I fully expect him to knock the hell out of Brock Lesnar. I don't think Lesnar has the chin needed to stand and trade with Carwin, I don't even know if it's possible to have that good of a chin.
Brock's the better wrestler, and that's what he needs to rely on in this fight. If he stands in front of Carwin, he's going to be laid out flat. Brock's been training with Randy Couture, so I'm sure that Randy has been telling Brock to focus on wrestling in this fight. Brock is really good at ground-and-pound, that's his strength. If Brock doesn't work his wrestling, then he'll get crushed. I think Shane Carwin continues his path of destruction and knocks out Brock Lesnar in the first round.
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STRIKEFORCE MUSINGS
Cristiane Santos is such a dominant fighter that I was surprised to see her fight against Jan Finney go on as long as it did. That was just a piss-poor job of officiating there. There was no reason for that fight to go that long. That's the kind of stuff that leads to boxers deteriorating and suffering brain damage.
That's one of the best parts of MMA, that fights end much sooner than they do in boxing. Yeah, no one likes when a referee ends a fight early, but I would much rather have them end too early than too late. A loss is just a loss, it can be overcome. The beating that Finney took was unnecessary, and could have lead to serious damage.
Referee Kim Winslow deserves a re-education program or something about when to stop a fight. I also think that Finney's corner deserves some heat on this. Why didn't they throw the towel in? That was garbage on their part, and nearly as bad as Winslow not stopping the fight. One of the jobs of cornermen is to step in and stop the fight if it gets out of hand. You have to protect the fighter from himself, or herself in this case. It was painfully obvious that Santos was just crushing Finney. The right thing to do would have been to have someone stop the fight much earlier.
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Frank Shamrock officially announced his retirement Saturday. Whether or not you like the guy, he deserves credit for his part in helping MMA in the '90's and 2000's. He had a pretty good career, winning some major titles along the way. I was never a big Frank Shamrock fan, but I can't deny his place in history. I've watched his fight with Tito Ortiz several times. That was a hell of a fight, and Shamrock really showed what he was made of. He brutalized Tito and just crushed his spirit. That was one of the best fights in UFC history in my opinion. To be honest, I kind of already thought Shamrock was retired, but I guess this makes it official. I won't be too surprised if he fights at least once more, though. We all know how fighters are with retirements.
Comments and suggestions can be e-mailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com
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