Brock/Carwin and Cain/Rothwell

[Liquidrob]

Dr.Evil first broke the story of Brock vs Carwin, now it looks like Rothwell will fight Cain now at 104

"On the heels of Shane Carwin being scratched from UFC 104 to challenge Brock Lesnar for the division title in November, MMAmania.com (www.mmamania.com) can confirm that former IFL and Affliction heavyweight standout Ben Rothwell has agreed to step in for “The Engineer” versus Cain Velasquez on Oct. 24.

Rothwell is coming off a dominating TKO win over Chris Guillen at Adrenaline II back in December 2008. Prior to that, “Big” was riding a career high 13-fight win streak before running into former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski in July 2008 during the inaugural Affliction event.

Before the loss, he had defeated former UFC champion Ricco Rodriguez, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 standout Krzysztof Soszynski, Roy “Big Country” Nelson and others.

The Miletich Fighting Systems (MFS)-trained fighter was on course to throw hands with Chase Gormley at the same event however, the UFC quickly shuffled the deck after Carwin’s departure.

The winner will likely be next in line for a title shot pending the outcome of UFC 106."

www.mmamania.com

[CrimsonGhost56]

nice. id rather see rothwell face cain then be buried on the undercard of UFC 103

[Liquidrob]

nice. id rather see rothwell face cain then be buried on the undercard of UFC 103

I like the change, now Brock will fight pretty soon and not have to wait for the winner of Cain/Carwin

Plus Cain is young and makes it 2 contenders for Brock instead of just 1 if he beats Rothwell

Also, a good theory I heard of why they made the Brock/Carwin fight now was because the UFC thought they were going to get Fedor and make that fight, since it fell threw they switched it up so Brock has a fight rather sooner than later, makes sense

[RosettaStoned]

Brock is going to lose that fight.

[Liquidrob]

Brock is going to lose that fight.

I dont know who to pick in this fight, to me its a 50/50 fight at this point, I would have to watch some more tape on Carwin, but his fast are over to quick, lol

Only problem with Carwin I see is he is pretty slow, awesome power of course, but Brock is much quicker

If no one KO's each other in the first round I think by the mid 2nd they will both be gassed and whoever lands the clean shot wins

[Warner2BruceTD]

Brock is going to lose that fight.

Brock is a bigger, stronger, faster version of Carwin, with better wrestling credentials.

They have the same skill set, but Lesnar is better at everything. And Lesnar is more battle tested vs. better comp.

Not saying Carwin can't win, but I would have a hard time picking him because I would have nothing substantial to base it off of.

[Liquidrob]

Brock is a bigger, stronger, faster version of Carwin, with better wrestling credentials.

They have the same skill set, but Lesnar is better at everything. And Lesnar is more battle tested vs. better comp.

Not saying Carwin can't win, but I would have a hard time picking him because I would have nothing substantial to base it off of.

he isnt better at everything, you cant really say that

Carwin is a BJJ purple belt and has been going BJJ for longer, take that for what it is worth and I think Carwins stand up is a little cleaner than Brocks

[Warner2BruceTD]

he isnt better at everything, you cant really say that

Carwin is a BJJ purple belt and has been going BJJ for longer, take that for what it is worth and I think Carwins stand up is a little cleaner than Brocks

Do you really see this fight turning out like Maia vs. Marquardt, with two 300lb gorillas thwarting each other submissions and trying to pull off Darce chokes?

I'll concede the cleaner standup point. It's just "Brock smash" with Lesnar.

[Liquidrob]

Do you really see this fight turning out like Maia vs. Marquardt, with two 300lb gorillas thwarting each other submissions and trying to pull off Darce chokes?

I'll concede the cleaner standup point. It's just "Brock smash" with Lesnar.

lol, no, but Carwin has better understanding of subs, he has 5 sub wins and a couple by guillotine which could be a factor, Lesner puts his head in the wrong spot and it could be over, its something to think about

also, if Brock gets him down, he could use some basic skills with his wrestling to get back to his feet and Brock never tries to put the hooks in he does more of a wrestler ride when he has your back

seeing Randy being able to roll over to his knees and get back up (if I remember correctly) could be pulled of by a bigger and stronger guy than Randy like Carwin, also Heath was able to get to his knees a lot, but he doesnt have the wrestling to stand up, I think Carwin would be able to

I think Carwin needs to avoid getting overwelmed in round 1 by Brocks speed which he has thw advantage in, if it goes 2 than its just who gets the clean punch, Brock couldnt even get Randy down in round 2 and his shots looked weak and telegraphed

[Liquidrob]

Carwin has better standup than Brock, but I really don't see Brock having a ton of trouble taking it to the ground. One thing we've learned so far is that Brock has been able to control where the fight goes just about at-will.

I don't think Carwin will be able to keep this standing long enough for a quick KO, and if Brock gets him to the ground I'm confident he'll stay on top and wear down Carwin to the point that he can win a decision or get into a dominant position and win via GnP. Could be a boring fight that way, but if it's Brock's best way to win it is tough to fault him for going that route with it...

I do have contacts within Brock's camp, and I'll tell you they believe this is the toughest matchup out there for him (besides Fedor and possibly Barnett). This is a close fight and difficult matchup, I give Brock a 60% chance to win at this point.

I think Carwin's best shot here is to focus 90% of his energy on defending takedowns, because if Brock tries 2 takedowns in the first 90 seconds that get stuffed who knows how he'll react? If he gets frustrated and decides to stand, that's all the opening Carwin needs... If Carwin goes out swinging, though, chances are good Brock will absorb a punch or two,tie him up and get it to the ground.

Rob, with regard to the wrestling, Randy/Brock are a lot better than Carwin in this area IMO... I think we'll see Brock having an easier time getting Carwin down than he did with Couture, but who knows...

That's why this fight is such a good one, should be a real chess match (unless someone gets knocked out in 20 seconds).

good post, but Carwin is no slouch in the wrestling department and is bigger and stronger than Randy, plus Brock has only fought 1 guy who has any sort of TD defense in Randy and he didnt control where the fight went at will, taking down Heath and Mir isnt that big of a deal, you have to go off the Randy fight more than Mir or Heath IMO

If Brock and Shane make it to the 2nd round, I dont see to many takedowns for either guy, it will be all power punching

Carwins wrestling background, not as good as Brock, but nothing to sneeze at either

He wrestled in college, becoming a two-time NCAA Division II Wrestling National Runner-Up Heavyweight in 1996-7, and the NCAA II Wrestling Heavyweight National Champion in 1999. He was also a two-time All-American in football

and he is a better football player than Brock and we know Jared Allen would be a champ with 6 months of training, lol

[BigBiss]

Lets say Brock get caught in a guillotine, lets just say. Dose Carwin have what it takes to hold the belt or are we looking a a hot potato belt situation like LHW was/ (could still be)

[RosettaStoned]

Carwin has the size and wrestling to keep Brock off of him, and the stand up to do damage.

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For those wondering how the "hype" machine will roll out for this, I expect Brock to be more of an "aloof villain" this time by taking a "who the heck is Shane Carwin" approach to the fight. A bit different than how Brock went into the Mir fight, but that was obviously a much different fight...

and Carwin will represent the 'honor' of MMA and play off the post fight UFC 100 antics of Brock

huge PPV buys in the making

[Liquidrob]

Carwins chin has been tested and passed, I think Brock could take a punch also, fun fight

[Liquidrob]

Lets say Brock get caught in a guillotine, lets just say. Dose Carwin have what it takes to hold the belt or are we looking a a hot potato belt situation like LHW was/ (could still be)

I think so, the best in the divison are the 4 wrestlers, Brock, Carwin, Cain and Randy

They each have great wrestling base, but all have different strengths

Brock is the best athlete of the group

Carwin has great KO power but hasnt even seen the 2nd round so who knows what type of cardio he has

Cain has the best cardio and pace but his best win was Kongo

Randy has the experience and the refined MMA skill set but age is catching up

I wouldnt be surprised if Carwin beats Brock than Cain out works Carwin and Randy puts the old man skills on Cain, or Brock not lose to Carwin, Cain or Randy beat him, etc...

Not one of these guys stands out from the other, throw in a Big Nog sub, a Cro Cop high kick and the belt could be passed between a bunch of guys