Let me preface this by saying “GODDAMN YOU CARWIN FOR FALLING FOR LESNARS HOMER SIMPSON STRATEGY”. Now with my questions.

Leben proving doubters (myself included) WRONG!

- What is Akiyama’s biggest flaw: cardio or fighting in the wrong weight class?

- Is Leben making a case for comeback fighter of 2010?

- We still have to wait for the speculative ppv #’s but was this Lesnars defining moment, unlike UFC 100 he wasn’t sharing the spotlight with another popular champ in Boss Canada or two TUF coaches nor was there a video game coming out. Not to mention there still being some lingering world cup action & NBA Free Agency frenzy (OMG LeBron, what will he do). Did Lesnar pull off the biggest win in his career so far with his second title defense?

Big win or biggest win?

- Does a main event finish define and entire card/ppv broadcast? It seems no matter how many finishes are on the card or even the co main event if there is no definitive exclamation point put on the main event the entire card suffers for it?

- Is there a place for a new, more sensitive, humble and introspective post illness Lesnar. Or is it passe to heel it up since he has come into his own as a fighter?

- Both Lawlor and Petruzelli seem to have the same problem with pasting their opponents in the first rounds then gassing and getting out grappled.

Cage grabbers get slammed. gif via Caposa on the UG

-Did Gerald Harris steal Rampages thunder? And with 5 finishes in the UFC why hasn’t he been moved to the main card yet? As a Team Thirsty member alongside Rashad and King Mo are we seeing another variant of “The Cuban” or is this just how The Hurricane throws down?

WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS EVEN MEAN?!?

Bizarre post fight pose aside, Bonnar proves once again to be nigh unfinishble and a true company man in receiving one of 2
75k fight of the night bonuses. From MMA Junkie

LAS VEGAS – Gerald Harris, Brock Lesnar, Stephan Bonnar, Krzysztof Soszynski, Chris Leben and Yoshihiro Akiyama each earned $75,000 fight-night bonuses for their performances at Saturday’s UFC 116 event.

Harris earned the “Knockout of the Night” award, Lesnar earned the “Submission of the Night” bonus, and Bonnar, Soszynski, Leben, Akiyama all earned “Fight of the Night” honors

You know you are screwed when you can't even tap.

- Is the new grapple savvy Lytle just going for bonuses or is he making a real title run?

- Is the inverted triangle like the 4 minute mile, once one fighter does it is it the new cool sub to wrap people up in?

- A truly exciting (I would even go as far to say WEC level in terms of action) card actually featured bouts in every weight class, when was the last time that happened?

Thanks to Fightlinker doing most of the link work for me, lol.

Photo by the great Ester Lin

At the MGM Grand in Las Vegas this weekends UFC event thanks in no small part to last weeks upset of consensus #1 heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. Will feature a championship bout that should shake up the rankings even more as current champ Brock Lesnar defends his belt against undefeated interim champ Shane Carwin. I will be focusing on the main card and spike prelim bouts.

Main Card

About as close as were going to get to the real thing

UFC Heavyweight Championship

Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin

I doubt I can offer any special insight into this bout or uncover some unforeseen angle/variable. Since the aftermath of UFC 111 when Carwin won the interim strap people have been salivating over this fight. The similarities between these two opponents are uncanny at best, both have won NCAA titles (Brock D1, Shane D2), have ridiculous reach (Lesnar 81′, Carwin 80′) and both fighters swing the two biggest glove sizes in the UFC (4XL for Brock, 5 for Shane). Both men have relied on their hulking size and nigh superhuman athleticism to overwhelm their opponents.

They will finally come face to face with an opponent who can cancel out their athletic prowess in one another. Lesnar may have a slight edge in wrestling but Carwin is no slouch in the rasslin’ department and is the more multifaceted fighter than Brock who has to get you down and maintain top position before he does his most effective damage. Lesnar is also coming off a 10 month plus lay off due to illness, a major hurdle for most fighters especially one with as little cage time as Lesnar who is competing at the highest level possible. These combined disadvantages do not bode well for the current champ. I expect Carwin to make short work of him

Carwin – via TKO

Co-Main Event
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben

Leben is stepping in for Wanderlei Silva on short notice to face Sexyama. The Crippler is a good company man and will make this an exciting fight. Akiyama on the other hand went from fighting an mma legend/superstar to now having to deal with an iron headed brawler who is can derail his title aspirations. If Leben can pressure Akiyama into a brawl, he may win, but Sexyama strikes me as a guy who knows he needs to win and will do his damndest to grind out a win.

Akiyama – via Split decision

Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Stephan Bonnar

Bonnar is REALLY washed up.

Soszynski – via UD

George Sotiropoulos vs. Kurt Pellegrino

When two seasoned grapplers step in the cage you will either get a ground war or bad kickboxing. Since Sotiropoulos has some professional boxing experience, Pellegrino is a wrestler primarily I will give George the edge in being well rounded and having more tools. This fight is evenly matched and should get an awards bonus (fight of the night or sub) I see Sotiropoulos continuing his flawless UFC career.

George Greek Noise – via UD

Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown

Another fight destined for a awards bonus is a rematch between two exciting welterweights. I see Lytle busting out his submission skills once again.

Lytle – via Sub

Spike TV Prelims:

Brendan Schaub vs. Chris Tuchscherer

Brocks training partner vs Carwins lol. I like Schaub but Tuchscherer’s wrestling pedigree will come into play. Logic be damned.

Schaub – via Sub

Seth Petruzelli vs. Ricardo Romero

The Kimbo killer returns to the UFC, I hope this new guy isn’t as good as his record makes him out to be.

Petruzelli – via TKO

UFC Fighters Frank Mir and Anthony Johnson have something in common. Both fighters have recently made statements in regards to changing weight classes.

Here is an article from Fighters Only with Frank Mir and his reasoning behind the proposed change in weight division. Pic from MMA Weekly.

Frank Mir, The Beefcake version

“Right now I have a couple months off, so I’ve actually been toying with the idea of maybe going down a weight class. Since I don’t have a fight for a couple months, I’ve just been watching what I eat and see what my natural weight will fall now at now, since I have lifted a lot lately to add size,” he said to MMA Figures.

“I’m kind of curious where I think I would fall at. Because some of the guys I train with that are light-heavyweight, and our bone structures are the same. Sometimes I stand next to Forrest Griffin and I think I’m in the wrong weight class.”

While Mir did hit the 265lb weight limit in his last fight with Shane Carwin, he still had trouble dealing with Carwins nightmarish power. Suffering a loss in similar fashion from current Champ Brock Lesnar last year at UFC 100 gave Frank the idea to bulk up in the first place. Now after going 1-2 against the next gen of heavyweights, his next move seems to be a 180 from his previous plan of trying to fight muscle mass with muscle mass.

Anthony Johnson has the same idea but is going up rather than down a weight class. At 6′2 Rumble is one of the tallest welterweights in the division. Where he stands to gain by being the bigger man come fight time, he loses come time for the weigh ins where he looks less than impressive and more like he is auditioning for a sequel to The Machinist.

From. MMA Junkie

Now as a person who has actually seen the man in in person I can personally vouch for his hugeness. And yes, the other handsome devil in the photo is yours truly, and I don’t mean the broad from Snow Crash. All jokes aside, his move to middleweight has been speculated for a while. From MMA Junkie

“He has to maintain a very diligent cardio routine to stay in striking range of 170 (pounds),” Johnson’s manager, Ken Pavia, today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “Because of his knee injury, his weight has gotten up a little bit, and we don’t want to delay his comeback because of a weight issue. So we’re entertaining the possibility of taking a fight at 185 (pounds).”

The history of Rumbles trails and tribulations making the 170 pound welterweight limit is well documented. And even cost the fighter a knock out of the night bonus. This along with the unknown long term effects of weight cutting in a young combat sport, make the idea of moving up a weight class seem smarter the longer you consider it.

Last but not least, props to Steve4192 for the pic. It pretty much inspired the entire post.

Toney would benefit from this guy in regards to self promotion.

His smack talk game needs stepping up something fierce.

Color commentator, comedian and hardcore combats sports fan Joe Rogan espousing his views on UFC newcomer and former champion boxer James Toney and how he fits in the heavyweight division.

Comments on the interim heavyweight belt which Lesnar says is a, “make-believe” belt and the stirring up of Mir’s comments we’ve all been over 100 times already. Brock’s pick is Carwin, based off Mir’s statement of Carwin being a, “better version of Brock Lesnar“.

Either way, good to see Brock back in good shape and ready to return to the octagon in July.