Just in time for the Fourth of July UFC President Dana White offers UFC fans fireworks inside the octagon at UFC 116 with a highly anticipated heavyweight title bout between reigning Champion Brock Lesnar and Interim Champion Shane Carwin at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. on July 3.
"Whoever wins will be the baddest dude on the planet," said White.
There is no doubt that he is right. And although the bout is scheduled for five rounds of five minutes each it is highly unlikely that it will even last past the first five minutes as the yet undefeated Carwin has won all his 12 pro MMA fights long before the first round was coming to a close.
Lesnar, on the other hand, has gone the distance once with Heith Herring resulting in a decision win for Lesnar. His other four pro MMA fights ended before the second round was over and include one loss to former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir via submission.
Road to the UFC Heavyweight Championship
In spite of these differences on their fight records Carwin and Lesnar actually have quite a bit in common which almost makes this bout seem like a match between twins. Both heavyweights have incredible knockout power paired with unusual athleticism for their size.
They also share a strong wrestling background with Carwin winning the NCAA Division II Wrestling Heavyweight Championship in 1999 while Lesnar was just one step behind him in Division II where he won the Championship one year later in 2000.
Lesnar then made a name for himself as professional wrestler in Japan and the U.S. while Carwin fell off the radar until he launched his professional MMA career in 2006.
Once again, Lesnar was just one step behind Carwin when he made his MMA debut in 2007 at the annual Dynamite! show hosted by K-1 and scored an impressive submission-win over Min Soo Kim at 1:09 in round one. Needless to say, he caught White's eye who almost immediately recruited him for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Interestingly, Lesnar suddenly ended up in the fast lane by making his UFC debut at UFC 81, a few month ahead of Carwin who had his first UFC fight at UFC 84. Oddly enough, Lesnar's rise to UFC stardom was not even slowed down or halted by his loss against Mir at his UFC debut.
Carwin, however, had a harder time making it into the spotlight although he delivered fail-safe wins at all of his MMA and UFC fights. This can certainly be attributed to the fact that Carwin's opponents were non-contenders so Carwin's victories did not make as much of splash.
On the contrary, all of Lesnar's UFC opponents were former champions with the exception of Heath Herring. Moreover, Lesnar was already a popular wrestler so putting him on any fight cards always generated a buzz that went beyond the die-hard MMA target audience.
And then the unthinkable happened: Lesnar knocked out MMA legend, Randy Couture, at UFC 91 and became the new Heavyweight Champion which instantly made him super-human in terms of marketing power for the UFC.
In his rematch with Mir at UFC 100 he proved that his victory over Couture was not a fluke by manhandling Mir in the octagon to successfully defend his belt against the interim champion.
But Lesnar's good fortune was short-lived when he came down with a severe case of diverticulitis in 2009 that threatened to not only end his UFC career, but his life as an athlete.
While speculations over Lesnar's fate dominated the news for months to come the UFC's spotlight finally fell on Carwin who was hot and ready to prove his worth against high-caliber opponents, such as Mir, for the interim-heavyweight title.
History repeated itself when Carwin knocked out Mir at UFC 111 in the very first round. To Mir's credit it should be noted that he lasted two minutes longer than any of Carwin's previous opponents. Nevertheless, Carwin went on to become the new UFC Heavyweight Interim Champion until Lesnar was well enough to return to the octagon.
Lesnar vs. Carwin: Clash of the titans
It almost seems like destiny has woven the paths of these two warriors parallel to each other just to intertwine them now.
There is no doubt that no one wants this match more than Carwin who had to bide his time in the UFC shadows in spite of his incredible talent and fight record.
After Lesnar's recovery it is hard to predict how his fight game might have changed since he reportedly lost 30 pounds during the course of his bout with diverticulitis. As much of his physical strength can be attributed to his size it is possible that he exchanged strength for speed without the bulk. But it is unlikely that he drastically changed his fighting style in only six months while also recovering from a very weakening illness.
While Lesnar was working on getting back on his feet Carwin was busy beating up Mir which gives him huge success momentum and only three months of lay-off in comparison to Lesnar's 11 months since his last bout.
But even without Lesnar's health problems Carwin would be holding the better cards due to his experience and superior ground game. Although Lesnar has never been knocked out, he has lost via submission once making it evident that he is more vulnerable on the ground. Ultimately, it will depend on which fighter can take more hits, because one thing is certain: it will rain fists. Expect fireworks and a quick finish via submission or knockout.
Predicted winner: Carwin via submission in round one. 
UFC 116 tickets can be purchased online via Ticketmaster. The main card will air live on PPV at 10 p.m. on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN, BellTV, Shaw Communications, Sasktel, and Viewer’s Choice Canada for a suggested retail price of $44.99 US/$49.99 CAN.
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UFC 116 - "The Baddest Dude on the Planet"
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