He'd never survive past the first round.
That 11-0 record, with each win coming in the opening stanza, was cosmetic. He never faced anyone the caliber of Frank Mir. Gabriel Gonzaga buckled his knees. Never mind that he showed the mark of a champion by taking it and finding a way to win.
That one-year layoff from competition would come back to hurt him. Mir was going to dice him.
People at Zuffa will never admit it, but they were secretly hoping for Mir to defeat Shane Carwin to set up a rubber Mir-Brock Lesnar match July 3 and build hype based on legit hate.
With an explosive left hand that sent Mir tumbling and a barrage of follow ups that would turn cement into dust, Carwin changed all the questions at UFC 111. To anyone who doubted him because he lacked the big-fight experience of Mir, Carwin proved he's for real. By capturing the UFC interim heavyweight title he actually did Zuffa favor: Lesnar-Carwin lacks the spike fit for a WWE storyline, but Dana White and Co. can turn a 1,000-page novel (with no pictures) on the history of cabinet making into an exciting tale.
And the bottom line is this: Carwin provides Lesnar with the best matchup. For one, Lesnar won't be able to bully Carwin into a defenseless position, like he did Mir. Lesnar's chin has also never been truly tested. I don't care who you are. You get hit flush by a Carwin punch, you're falling. In turn, all of Lesnar's MMA fights took place prior to the diverticulitis that ravaged his body. Not only is Lesnar healthy, he's stronger.
Carwin will also be Lesnar's greatest challenge. Cry all you want about the quality of his opponents. When you win all 12 of your MMA fights, needing no longer than three minutes and 48 seconds, to vanquish 12 of the world's best athletes whose ability allowed them to excel in this sport, you've accomplished something absolutely amazing and remarkable. And this is from someone who at age 35 works full-time as an engineer and is a married father of a newborn daughter. Carwin's got the "it" factor I believed would get him past Mir and it did. And while doing so he forced the first seed of concern behind Lesnar and his smug smile.
*******
If there ever was going to be a fight in which all five rounds were scored 10-8, it was Georges St. Pierre's domination of Dan Hardy. This wasn't scored 50-40, but the judges had it 50-43, 50-44 and 50-45. Hardy earned respect by surviving an armbar and other painful submission attempts that would have forced a lesser fighter to tap, but there's nothing that nether he nor anyone can do to solve GSP. He's just that good ... From what Dana White said after the fight, the winner of Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley in May could meet Jon Fitch. The door for Jake Shields is looking wide open ... All five of the Jersey Boys won their bouts at 111, though I had Mark Bocek beating Jim Miller in a great fight that was very hard to score ... If I were matchmaker, I'd sign off on a rematch between Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Both are out of the title hunt and both are still steaming over their last fight that Mir won but to whom Minotauro refused to give credit because he got over a staph infection ... It was a fun week in New York City. I hung out with great fans Friday night while reporting on Thiago Alves' next step. The UFC also sold out the Prudential Center and earned a gate of $4 million, more evidence clear to everyone except that clown and idiot, Assemblyman Bob Reilly, that MMA must be sanctioned in New York State.
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