With Fedor Emelianenko being outed as mere mortal like the rest of us, the mythical title of number one Heavyweight Mixed Martial Artist in the Galaxy will be up for grabs when Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin collide inside the Octagon for the UFC Heavyweight championship this Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Lesnar’s health issues have been well documented. He successfully battled a career threatening intestinal disorder known as Diverticulitis that left him on the sidelines for nearly a year. The debilitating disorder may have in fact been a blessing in disguise as it has forced the one man Minnesota Wrecking Crew to eat healthier which in turn will probably make his already formidable speed autobahn worthy. His world class wrestling pedigree and freakish strength have proven to be his tickets to the top but he is cognizant of the ingredients that are necessary to stay in the rarified air space.He brought in none other than the man he beat for the Heavyweight strap, Randy Couture to help him strategize and work on the techniques that have made Couture the “Dean of Dirty Boxing”. Lesnar also worked with fellow Team DeathClutch members and NCAA wrestling stars Chris Tuchsherer and Cole Konrad. Another addition to his camp was boxing coach Pete Welch and Lesnar mentioned earlier this week that they changed his stance from orthodox to southpaw. It probably wasn’t the wisest move to let his opponent know this in advance but I don’t see anyone lining up to be the first to tell the former WWE performer he made a tactical error in letting the proverbial cat out of the bag. Just a quick aside, shouldn’t animal lovers be in an uproar over the fact that a feline is in the bag in the first place? Anyway, regardless of changes Lesnar may have made in his stand up techniques, I still think Carwin will be the more proficient puncher. The fighting engineer has collected all 12 of his wins via first round stoppage; 8 of which came courtesy of his sledgehammer strikes. While Lesnar has gone 1-1 against their one common opponent, Frank Mir, Carwin crushed him in less time that it took Roger Bannister to run the mile in 1954. Carwin has reaped the rewards of being associated with one of the best camps in the sport, Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He’s a former NCAA Division 2 wrestling champion but I think wrestling will be a moot point in this much anticipated clash of the titans as my magic 8 ball says someone is going down in the opening round faster than BP stock. With apologies to my fellow Pro Wrestling meazarks, that man’s initials will be B.L. UFC President Dana White has already said that unbeaten AKA phenom Cain Velasquez is waiting in the wings to face the winner of UFC 116’s mammoth main event. Oh,one more thing while Zuffa is known for cutting unreported check s to its roster of fighters when they feel they deserve it for their Octagon efforts, the reported purses for Saturday’s feature attraction explain why Carwin remains gainfully employed as an engineer. According to the NSAC,he is scheduled to make just 80 grand for the opportunity to become the full champion and that includes a 40 thousand dollar win bonus. Lesnar ,the sport’s biggest draw is reportedly getting a 400 thousand dollar flat fee. Of course, he has pay per view points and with UFC 116 expected to garner around a million buys,one shouldn’t expect Lesnar to be crooning the Great Depression standard “Brother,Can You Spare a Dime?”
The other marquee match up on the card took a major hit when huge fan favorite Wanderlei Silva withdrew from his Middleweight showdown with Judo black belt Yoshihiro Akiyama. The Axe Murderer was going to try and compete with a damaged knee but after breaking a reported three ribs while training he was forced to say “No mas” and opportunity came knocking on the door of Chris Leben,who will be stepping inside the octagon for the second time in just two weeks! Akiyama ‘s UFC debut was a controversial one as he recorded a razor thin split decision win over Alan Belcher last July. Akiyama is a tactical striker with decent footwork but against a power punching southpaw like Leben, conventional wisdom suggests that the judoka should probably try to take the fight to the ground where he will have an edge when it comes to fishin’ for the submission. Leben ‘s gameplan is very similar to the Bill Murray flick “Groundhog Day”. He’s a bonafide leather chucker and I think he’s going to come out and treat Akiyama like he’s on fire with the only extinguisher available coming in the form of the TUF 1 alum’s heavy hands. However, I am fearlessly (go big or go home!) predicting that Akiyama will be the one to “burn” Leben with a well placed counterstrike that will abruptly end the proceedings late in the opening round.
My choice for most entertaining encounter of the evening shouldn’t come as a surprise. Chances are that when Welterweight Chris Lytle is on the bill, his opponent should expect to receive beaucoup bonus bucks for “Fight of the Night”. In fact, the Indianapolis fire fighter has won bonuses in 7 of his last 9 UFC contests. Lytle’s propensity to keep his fights in the vertical position overshadows the fact that he is also a BJJ black belt. He already owns a 2nd round guillotine choke win in 2007 over the man he’ll be opposing at UFC 116,Matt Brown. In MMA terms, that was a lifetime ago and Brown utilized the vast expertise of Matt “The Wizard” Hume in the Pacific Northwest to continue to hone his overall skillset. He’s gone 5-2 since losing to Lytle and while Lytle’s style of fighting doesn’t lend itself to self preservation, I think the battle tested veteran will prevail via unanimous decision,29-28.
Light Heavyweights Stephan Bonnar and Krzysztof Soszynski will square off one more time after controversy shrouded their first meeting at UFC 110 in Australia last February. An accidental clash of heads left Bonnar with a cut that the referee thought was the result of a legal strike and awarded the tainted win to the “Polish Experiment”. Bonnar unsuccessfully appealed the decision and he now faces the prospects of losing for the fourth straight time inside the Octagon. While UFC president Dana White has stated that Bonnar and Forrest Griffin has a “job for life” thanks to their seminal scrap in the TUF 1 finale,one would have to think Bonnar is on the bubble. He’s a BJJ purple belt but his striking isn’t the most technically sound and I think Soszynski is the better wrestler.16 of the his 19 victories have come inside the distance and I think he’s going to pick up his 8th win via form of knockout thanks to some good ol’ fashioned ground and pound in the third round.
The PPV portion of the card begins with a very intriguing Lightweight bout between Kurt Pellegrino and George Sotiropoulos. The 31 year old “Batman” is a BJJ whiz who trains under Renzo Gracie black belt Ricardo Almeida. He extended his current win streak to 4 when he sublimely submitted Royler Gracie BJJ blackbelt Fabricio Camoes via second round rear naked choke at UFC 111 in March. Sotiropoulos’ grappling game has proven to be a revelation as he’s honed his razor sharp skills rolling with the likes of mat mavens Matt Serra and rubber guard guru Eddie Bravo. He’s reeled off 6 straight wins including all five of his Octagon appearances. He’s fresh off a unanimous decision win over former UFC Lightweight title challenger Joe Stevenson, someone who defeated Pellegrino 3 years ago.While Sotiropoulos is a former amateur boxing champion in his native Australia, I hope we will be treated to a grappling clinic and honestly this one is a pick’em but I am going to go with Sotiropoulos via unanimous decision, 29-28.
