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One of the biggest questions of the last few months is what would be the next fight for Brock Lesnar? The UFC heavyweight champion was been sidelined for months with an illness and hasn’t fought since UFC 100. Two Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin matches were canceled due to Brock Lesnar’s illness. Hopefully the third time will be the charm as Brock Lesnar’s next fight will be with Shane Carwin at UFC 116.

Shane Carwin continued his brutal streak of knockouts with a first-round win over former UFC champion Frank Mir at UFC 111. Carwin knocked out Mir with a barrage of punches at the 3:48 mark of the first round. Carwin dominated the entire round out-muscling Mir against the cage and nailing him with several short punches. Carwin eventually was able to unload a flurry of uppercuts against Mir who dropped and wound up going to sleep. This Carwin’s 12th UFC win, all within the first round, and fifth straight knockout for the former NCAA wrestling standout.

The win earned Shane Carwin the interim UFC heavyweight title and a guaranteed fight against UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar for the title. This is a unique situation as Carwin was already deemed the number one contender by the UFC last summer. Carwin had two fights scheduled against Brock Lesnar for the title which were both canceled. It took a lot of guts for Carwin to accept the fight against Mir when he probably could have held out another few months for the Lesnar fight. It looks like it will all pay off with one of the biggest heavyweight title matches in UFC and MMA history.

I wrote the following when the first Shane Carwin vs. Brock Lesnar fight was announced back in August. “The Carwin-Lesnar fight is extremely intriguing. Carwin is 11-0 in MMA and is the only fighter under contract to match Lesnar size for size. At 6’3 and 265lbs, he is the only challenger that Lesnar won’t be able to bully on the ground in a potential match. This will be the first and maybe only time that Lesnar can’t rely strictly on his size to power his way to a win.” Of course since the writing Carwin is now 12-0 in the UFC.

Shane Carwin is a very scary fighter. Carwin bullied Frank Mir around the octagon like Mir was a light heavyweight. Brock Lesnar was also able to bully Frank Mir at UFC 100, however Mir was not 265 pounds. Carwin is known for his incredible power in both his strikes and his ability to muscle his opponents throughout a fight. Any questions about Shane Carwin being a fluke in the UFC were all answered with his domination of Frank Mir.

It looks like Shane Carwin vs. Brock Lesnar is being targeted for UFC 116 in Las Vegas, NV. I can’t see any reason that Carwin wouldn’t be allowed to fight in four months, considering he barely took any punishment against Frank Mir. UFC 116 would be a few days shy of one full year since Brock Lesnar’s last fight in the UFC. It will be interesting to see if there is any rust in Lesnar’s game. I am also curious to see how Brock Lesnar’s body handles the rigors of fight training and if he is truly 100% recovered from his illness as he claims to be. Any delays would undoubtedly turn this into a Shane Carwin vs. Cain Velasquez fight for the vacated UFC heavyweight title.

I don’t know where you go now with Frank Mir. It is obvious he is better than most of the UFC heavyweights, but just not strong enough to hang with the powerhouses at 265 pounds. The dream scenario for the UFC would be for Shane Carwin to beat Brock Lesnar and rematch Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir immediately thereafter. Frank Mir would probably have decent shots against either Cain Velasquez or Junior dos Santos considering how much bigger he is than either one of them. Santos comes in at 265, but he isn’t the power 265 that Carwin and Lesnar are. Another intriguing fight would be a Frank Mir vs. Randy Couture fight. Either winner would be a good case scenario for the UFC.

In the end, I have to wonder if the fight turns out to be a disappointment considering the potential a Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar rematch would have had. A Lesnar vs. Mir rematch would have most likely shattered the previous record the two set at UFC 100. However, Brock Lesnar was booed out of the building when he entered the ring for a post-fight interview. Lesnar was brilliant enough to play off of that and deliver a WWE styled pro wrestling interview. Lesnar may be strong enough with his WWE background to sell this fight. Between Brock Lesnar’s talking and continuous replays of Shane Carwin’s seven one-minute knockouts, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Brock Lesnar break UFC records once again.

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