Lesnar was coming off of massive reconstructive stomach surgery stemming from his diverticulitis, and seemed completely unenthusiastic with the idea of taking more damage than he needed to in this fight.
Carwin rocked him and looked to finish. Many fights have been stopped with less reason, but referee Josh Rosenthal never stepped in. Shane kept going, kept hammering Brock who, according to Rosenthal anyway, was doing just enough to keep the fight going. But a big man like Carwin fighting furiously for the finish can only go so long before he gasses out completely.
Shane had nothing for the 2nd round, and it showed. Lesnar took him down and submitted him with an arm-triangle. Then Lesnar got up on top of the cage and started pounding his chin with his own fist as if to signify “what a great chin I have!”, even though he turtled up under the strikes of Carwin. Shane Carwin could have been champion that day, had it been another referee, had it not been the company’s biggest PPV draw he was fighting, or if he had saved just one ounce of energy for the 2nd round.
Now Carwin is looking to come back, looking to make a dent in the UFC’s current crop of heavyweights, who just so happen to be the same group of heavyweights that were there when he retired.
Leading up to the fight with Brock, nobody had even gotten out of the 1st round with Carwin, including Frank Mir and Gabriel Gonzaga. If he has enough in the tank for another run, he could do some damage near the top of the division.
