MMA
Recap of UFC 116: Lesnar vs Carwin, Preview of UFC on VERSUS 2 and Upcoming Events
By Kevin Wallace
Jul 31, 2010 - 11:55 PM

Recap of UFC 116: Lesnar vs Carwin

This was easily my favorite event this year and from what I've heard, I'm not the only one who thinks this.    On paper, this card looked do be a one fight show but we ended up with several great fights, and a legitimate Fight of the Year candidate.

UFC Heavyweight Title Fight- Brock Lesnar submitted Shane Carwin at 2:19 of the second round to an arm triangle choke in a main event that, when all was said and done, felt like a main event!   With some underwhelming headlining fights as of late, this one really did give fans their money's worth and made a star out of Shane Carwin and finally helped shed Brock's heel persona just a tad. Carwin came at Brock early on with some big punches and even stunned Brock with an uppercut which backed Lesnar up against the cage.   Carwin continued to throw more punches and Brock fell to the mat and soon Carwin was standing over Brock hammering his with shots.   The referee came close a couple of times to stopping this one but Brock was able to push Carwin off and soon the two were back to their feet. Shane was looking very winded as the round came to a close.   The second round began with a wink of the eye from Shane and a prop from Lesnar and as one sided of a round as the first one was, the second was the same, just both men having switched positions.   Brock too Shane to the ground, with little effort to stop him from Carwin, and soon Brock was able to secure an arm triangle choke and with Carwin still gassed from throwing so many punches in the first round, he was unable to avoid it and tapped out.   Post fight, Brock said that he stood before everyone as a "humble" champion and now could claim that he was the best in the world.   The fight was real intense the entire time it lasted and Brock took some punches from someone larger then him and with heavier hands and the guy survived it.   Lesnar could very well be the best in the world following this performance but does have a tough test against him when he takes on Cain Velasquez in his next title challenge.

"The Crippler" Chris Leben submitted Yoshiro "Sexyama" Akiyama at 4:40 of the third round due to a triangle choke in a Fight of the Year candidate.   Chris Leben came into the fight, having won his previous outing two weeks ago, against Aaron Simpson and basically forfeited a full training camp, in hopes of a victory over another high profile opponent.   Akiyama on the other hand was looking to get back into the cage following a year of inactivity.   What materialized was a fantastic fight that went all over the cage.   Akiyama hung in there well with Leben in the standup and at one point, seemed to have hurt Chris with a big shot, but as is often the case in most Leben fights, the Crippler fought even more aggressive when being in danger.   In the third round, Chris was taken down and began throwing punches with both hands at the same time, to Akiyama's head which had the crowd cheering.   Leben, sensing that Akiyama was gassed turned it up a notch and slapped on a triangle choke which Akiyama fought valiantly, even hoisting Leben up and making Chris stand on his own head. Eventually Akiyama realized it was over and tapped out in a fantastic contest.   Post fight, Leben challenged Wanderlei Silva, Akiyama's original opponent, to a fight and even tried to hype the two as coaches on the next season of the ultimate fighter.   Just a year and a half ago, many, including myself though Leben would never be able to jump to that next level but his last three fights speak for themselves and if he continues at this pace, he may be knocking on Anderson Silva's door.

"The American Psycho" Stephan Bonnar defeated Krzysztof "The Polish Experiment" Soszynski by TKO due to punches at 3:08 of the second round in a rematch of a competitive fight between the two earlier in the year.   Bonnar came out aggressive, as did Krzysztof who again was able to cut Bonnar, this time due to punches.   Both men slugged it out and the crowd was really into this one as it came to the second round when Bonnar landed some good body shots and punches which floored Soszynski, and soon the referee called a stop to the fight.   With the win, Bonnar has bought himself another fight or two in the UFC and had it not been for the Leben fight, this would have been Fight of the Night.

George Sotiropoulous defeated Kurt "Batman" Pellegrino by unanimous decision in a fight where George overwhelmed Pellegrino early with punches and was more dominant on the ground, stuffing any submission attempts Kurt would attempt.   When the closing seconds of the fight were approaching, Kurt rocked George with a couple good shots that dropped him and could have finished the fight, had the whole thing happened earlier in the fight, when there was still a fair amount of time left to capitalize on this.   Despite saying that he would retire if he lost, Batman will in fact be back in the UFC when he recovers from a knee issue.   That's two really big wins in a row now for George who is surely only another fight or two away from a title shot.   I think a fight with the winner of Tyson Griffin/Takanori Gomi or Gray Maynard/Kenny Florian is most likely next for Sotiropolous.

Chris "Lights Out" Lytle submitted” The Immortal" Matt Brown to an armbar at 2:02 of the second round in another really good fight that probably would have went over better with the crowd had it not been right after the Bonnar fight.   Both men slugged it out for a little while until Lytle got the fight to the ground.   Brown held his own but it was only a matter of time before Chris pulled off a very impressive armbar and Brown tapped out.  

In Other Fights

Kendall "Da Spyda" Grove defeated Goran Reljic by Split Decision

Brendan "The Hybrid" Schaub defeated Chris Tuchscherer by TKO due to punches at 1:07 of the first round

Jon Madsen defeated Karlos "The Terminator" Vemola by Unanimous Decision

Ricardo Romero submitted Seth Petruzelli by arm bar at 3:05 of the second round

Daniel Roberts defeated Forrest "The Meat Clever" Petz by Split Decision

Gerald Harris defeated Dave Branch by KO due to a slam at 2:35 of the third round

Breakdown of UFC on VERSUS 2

The UFC makes a return to the Versus network on Sunday night with a decent little card and a couple intriguing fights.

Jon "Bones" Jones vs Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko-   At one time, The Janitor was considered to be a future world champion and now that he's back in the UFC, with wins over Igor Pokrajac and Elliot Marshal, the Janitor has found a second life.   Jon Jones on the other hand has the largest reach in the UFC at a whopping 82" and has dominated everyone he has faced in the UFC, Andre Gusmao, Stephan Bonnar, Jake O'Brien, Brendan Vera and even matt Hammill who actually won his fight with Jones, albeit due to a controversial stoppage from illegal elbows.   Jones is easily the fastest and talented young prospect in the UFC and with a win and finish of someone as durable as Matyushenko, Jones may be a win of two away from a title shot. Theres always a possibility of an upset here but I find that unlikely.   Jones has yet to even show any weaknesses and I don't think this one's going to be any different.   As tough a guy as Matyushenko is to finish, Jones should be able to find the way with takedowns and dominant ground and pound to earn himself a spot in the group of future title contenders.

My Prediction: Jon Jones by TKO

Tyson Griffin vs Takanori Gomi- Originally this contest was to be between Gomi and Joe Stevenson but Joe had an injury and Griffin jumped in as a replacement.   Griffin is a higher caliber opponent then Joe and with his most recent fight being a loss to Evan Dunham, Tyson should be looking to get back on track with a victory here and perhaps even a finish.   Gomi is a good fighter but he's far from great and Kenny Florian really had little problems finishing him in Gomi's last UFC fight.   I'm not denying that Gomi is a star in Japan but to be honest, the level of competition is much higher in the UFC and with a loss here, this may be his last fight with the company.   As good as Gomi's hands are, Griffin won't be knocked out by him and I'm sure Tyson will look to keep him on his back and maybe even attempt a few submissions but I see this one going much the same as a typical Tyson Griffin fight, ending in a decision with Grifin having his hand raised.

My Prediction: Tyson Grifin by Unanimous Decision

Jake Ellenberger vs John "Doomsday" Howard- Ellenberger should be able to take this one as Howard is primarily a wrestler and not much more then that.   Ellenberger has had some good outings of late in the UFC and his takedown defense should be good enough to keep this standing, where I'm sure he'll put a hurt on Howard.   Jake will have a five inch reach advantage here but even though he has 14 victories by knockout or tko, Howard is going to be tough to finish.   I'm pretty confident that Ellenberger will get the victory here but I don't think he'll be able to finish Howard.  

My Prediction: Ellenberger by Unanimous Decision

Yushin Okami vs Mark Munoz- This fights a toss up to me.   Okami is one of those fighters that only loses to real good opponents and over the last few fights Munoz has shown that he may in fact be that real good fighter.   This fight is going to be a tough test for Munoz as Okami has some great takedown defense and Mark's specialty is his dominant ground and pound.   It's going to be a real battle or Munoz to get Okami there and Okami's hands and takedown defense should be good enough to push the pace of this one and do what he does best, win fights by decision.

My Prediction: Yushin Okami by Unanimous Decision

In Other Fights

Matt Riddle vs Damarques Johnson

James Irvin vs Igor Pokrajac

Brian Stann vs Mike Massenzio

Rob Kimmons vs Steve "The Hooligan" Steinbeiss

Jacob "Christmas" Volkmann vs Paul Kelly

Darren Elkins vs Charles Oliveira

Upcoming Events

UFC 117 from Oracle Arena in Oakland, California- August 7th, 2010

UFC Middleweight Title Fight- Anderson "The Spider" Silva vs Chael Sonnen

"Big Country" Roy Nelson vs Junior Dos Santos

Jon Fitch vs Thiago "Pitbull" Alves

Ricardo Almeida vs Matt Hughes

Thiago Silva vs Tim Boetsch

Clay "The Carpenter" Guida vs Raphael Dos Anjos

"Killa B" Ben Saunders vs Dennis "Superman" Hallman

Rick Story vs Dustin Hazelett

Charlie "The Spaniard" Brenneman vs Johny Hendricks

Stefan Struve vs Christian Morecraft

Rodney Wallace vs Stanislav Nedkov

WEC 50 from Las Vegas, Nevada- August 18th, 2010

Bantamweight Championship Fight- Dominic Cruz vs Joe Benavidez

Urijah "California Kid" Faber vs Takeya Mizugaki

Anthony Pettis vs Shane Roller

Bart "Bartimus" Palazewski vs Zachary Micklewright

Brad "One Punch" Picket vs Scott Jorgenson

Dave Jansen vs Ricardo Lamas

Cub Swanson vs Chad Mendes

Javier "Showtime" Vazquez vs Mackens Semerzier

Fredson Paixao vs Brian Caraway

Anthony Njokuani vs Maciej "Irokez" Jewtuszko

Strikeforce: Houston from Houston, Texas- August 21st, 2010

Muhammed " King Mo" Lawal vs Rafael Cavalcante

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs Tim Kennedy

KJ Noons vs Jorge Gurgel

Antonio "Big Foot" Silva vs Sergei Kharitonov

Bobby Lashley vs Chad "The Gravedigger" Griggs

UFC 118 from Boston, Mass.- August 28th, 2010

UFC Lightweight Title Fight- Frank "The Answer" Edgar vs BJ Penn

Kenny "Ken Flo"Florian vs Gray Maynard

James Toney vs "The Natural" Randy Couture

Nate "The Great" Marquardt vs Roussimar Palhares

Joe "J-Lau" Lauzon vs Terry Etim

Marcus Davis vs Nate Diaz

Alessio Sakara vs Jorge "El Conquistador" Rivera

Amilcar Alves vs Mike Pierce

Andre Winner vs Nick "The Carnie" Lentz

Greg Soto vs Nick Osipczak

Phil "New York Badass" Baroni vs John Salter

Fight Night- September 15th, 2010

Gleison Tibau vs Jim Miller

Alan "The Talent" Belcher vs Demian Maia

Cole Miller vs Ross Pearson

Mac Danzig vs Matt Wiman

Tomasz Drwal vs Nick Catone

Kyle Kingsbury vs Jared Hamman

Efrain Escudero vs John Gunderson

David "Daudi" Mitchell vs Anthony "TJ" Waldburger

Rich Attonito vs Rafael "Sapo" Natal

UFC 119- From Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana- September 25th, 2010

Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira vs Frank Mir

Ryan Bader vs Antonio "Lil Nog" Nogueira

Matt "The Terror" Serra vs Chris "Light's Out" Lytle

Jeremy "Lil Heathen" Stevens vs Melvin "The Young Assassin" Guillard

Joey "The Mexicutioner" Beltran vs Matt Mittrione

CB Dollaway vs Joe Doerkson

TJ Grant vs Julio Paulino

Evan Dunham vs Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk

Mark Hunt vs Sean McCorkle

Aaron Riley vs Pat "Awesomely Awesome" Audinwood

Waylon Lowe vs Steve Lopez

WEC 51 from Colorado- September 30th, 2010

Jose Aldo vs Manny Gamburyan

"The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung vs George Roop

Leonard "Bad Boy" Garcia vs Mark "The Machine" Hominick

Miguel Torres vs Charlie Valencia

Donald "The Cowboy" Cerrone vs Jamie "The Worm" Varner

UFC 120- From The UK- October 16th, 2010

Michael "The Count" Bisping vs Yoshiro "Sexyama" Akiyama

Carlos Condit vs Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy

Cheick Kongo vs Travis Browne

John Hathaway vs Mike "Quicksand" Pyle

Alexander "The Mauler" Gustafsson vs Cyrille "Snake" Diabate

Claude Patrick vs James Wilks

Rob Broughton vs Vinicus "Spartan" Kappke

Curt Warburton vs Spencer "The King" Fisher

James McSweeney vs Tom Blackledge

UFC 121- From The Honda Center in Anaheim, California- October 23rd, 2010

UFC Heavyweight Championship- Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez

Matt Hammill vs Tito Ortiz

Jake Shields vs Martin "Hitman" Kampmann

Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez vs Paulo Thiago

Gabriel Gonzaga vs Brendan Schaub

Patrick "The Predator" Cote vs "Filthy" Tom Lawlor

Jon Madsen vs Todd Duffee

Sam "Hands of Stone" Stout vs Paul Taylor

Court "The Crusher" McGee vs Ryan Jensen

Chris Camozzi vs Dongi Yang