The Brock Lesnar mystery is closer to being solved today. Lesnar and UFC president Dana White appeared this afternoon on ESPN SportsCenter. Lesnar claimed that he is cured of diverticulitis and will fight again. Dana White confirmed that Lesnar is still the UFC heavyweight champion and named four potential opponents for Lesnar’s return. The return to the UFC of Brock Lesnar is looking better today than it has in recent months.

Lesnar told his story and it truly is a remarkable story. Lesnar confirmed a lot of what had been reported in recent months. Lesnar said that doctors originally wanted to remove his colon which would have ended his MMA career. He said he received two other opinions and was able to get a reprieve on the surgery at the “eighth hour.” Lesnar went back into training and tried rehabbing the illness and injury on his own. In what Lesnar and White described as a miracle, Lesnar received a clean bill of health at a January 5 checkup. Lesnar credited the miracle to the power of positive thinking, prayer, and training. Lesnar also says that new tests done yesterday confirm that he is clean of diverticulitis and he can go back to fighting.

This is truly a remarkable story. Who am I to judge, but it just sounds remarkable that the illness could just disappear on its own without any surgery. I’ll take him at his word and the opinions of the doctors on the news. Lesnar said that he lost 30 pounds when he was originally diagnosed with the illness. He said he has since put most of that back on due to heavy gym training. He looked pretty good from what I could see as he sat there for the live interview.

Dana White clarified that Lesnar is still the UFC heavyweight champion and barring a medical setback, will remain the champion. White also confirmed that Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin at UFC 111 will still be for the interim UFC heavyweight title. White said that the winner would be Lesnar’s next opponent. White also revealed a backup plan which includes two other heavyweight contenders. White stated that if the winner of Mir-Carwin comes out of the fight seriously injured and unable to meet Lesnar within a reasonable timetable that the winner of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez at UFC 110 would then jump in and take the fight.

There are a few things to note out of all of this. For one, nobody on the interview confirmed any kind of return date for Lesnar. One would assume June or July given the three-month timetable from UFC 111 but it is just that, an assumption. Also, hypothetically the winner of Mir-Carwin is hurt, is it fair to take them out of the fight when the UFC has waited for a year for Lesnar to fight again? Not too mention, what is the point of an interim title if the champion is fine?

The irony here is that while the UFC lost arguably its biggest draw, they may have gained the fight of the century. I don’t think there is any bigger fight that the UFC could make right now than Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir III. Considering that they sold over 1.6 million pay per views with their last match, I would imagine that their next match could come close to the 2 million mark. Brock Lesnar started promoting the trilogy five seconds after the fight when he got in Mir’s face. Mir has done nothing but talk up a rematch with Lesnar, including taking personal shots at Brock over the last several months. As long as Mir can do what he needs to do and beat Shane Carwin, the wait on Lesnar could turn into the biggest grossing fight in MMA history.

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Some of us still have to wait another week to open our holiday gifts. UFC fighter Frank Mir got his gift a week early. The former UFC heavyweight champion has agreed to fight for the interim title at UFC 111. Mir will meet Shane Carwin in a match to determine the UFC heavyweight interim champion in Newark, NJ this March.

I don’t have a doubt in my mind that Mir’s impressive fight at UFC 107 against Cheick Kongo motivated Dana White’s decision to make the interim title fight. Not only was Mir’s 72 second win over Kongo impressive, his interviews before and after the fight put him right back in the limelight. Dana White is anything but a dummy and moved fast to capitalize on Mir’s relevance. This will be Mir’s first crack at the title since losing the belt to Brock Lesnar back in July at UFC 100.

I give Shane Carwin a ton of credit for his patience over the last few months. He went from training to fight Brock Lesnar in September to the fight being delayed, to his own surgery, and now to having a brand new opponent. I also give Dana White a ton of credit for keeping Carwin in the title mix after promising him the match. Carwin’s ranking as a number one contender in the heavyweight division is very dubious. Many skeptics feel that Carwin got the fight for reasons other than his record. While Carwin is undefeated, he doesn’t have the big win that generally gets someone a title match in the UFC.

The fight will be added to UFC 111 and will be billed as a co-main event to headline alongside of Georges St. Pierre defending his UFC welterweight title against Dan Hardy. Ironically, GSP and Frank Mir co-main event once again after co-headlining the most successful UFC show in history, UFC 100. Thiago Alves is also slated to return on the show. Looking at the UFC schedule over the next several months, it is possible that the UFC could jack this show up with a Rampage Evans-Rashad Evans grudge match to take advantage of the close proximity to the New York market.

The big news here is that the UFC has finally moved on from Brock Lesnar after months of speculation. Dana White said over the weekend that he would give Lesnar up to six weeks to get healthy before he moved to an interim title fight. Lesnar’s camp has recently stated that Brock was doing well. White must not have been convinced otherwise he would have never made this fight. White has been extremely patient with Lesnar who hasn’t fought since July. This will only add further fuel to the speculation that Brock Lesnar is done fighting. It will be very interesting to see what kind of response comes from the Brock Lesnar camp.

All in all I think this has the potential to be a great fight. These are two of the most explosive fighters in all of MMA. Carwin has never been past the first round, while Mir has only fought once past the second round. Carwin is about as much of a Brock Lesnar clone as Frank Mir will ever fight in MMA. Should Lesnar comeback at some point in 2010, a fight against the winner would do tremendous business no matter who wins this fight. In the meantime, both Carwin and Mir are big talkers and the pre-fight hype should be a lot of fun. Get ready for some early fireworks, lots of hype, and a whole lot of tension leading up to UFC 111.

Thanks to MMAJunkie.com for the tip!

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The UFC heavyweight champion and former WWE star Brock Lesnar is in serious trouble. Lesnar has been hampered for months with an illness described as mono. UFC president Dana White has informed TMZ.com that Lesnar will not only need surgery, but may never fight again. The latest news is a death blow for UFC and may be the final chapter in one of the most polarizing careers in MMA history.

Lesnar’s condition is still a bit of a mystery. I have heard all kinds of rumors about the real conditions surrounding Lesnar’s illness, but none are confirmed. The amount of mystery and ambiguity surrounding this only fuels my speculation. It all began a few weeks back when it was announced that Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin was pushed back to UFC 108. Officials cited flu-like symptoms which have prevented Brock from training. Carwin was taken by surprise, as he too claimed to be sick but never had intentions of pulling out of the fight. However, things took an interesting twist a few weeks back when a video surfaced on You Tube.

A couple of weeks following the news of Lesnar’s illness, a video surfaced of Brock Lesnar at a Minnesota Vikings game. Lesnar had the honor of blowing the Vikings’ horn. The controversy erupted when most noted that Lesnar looked perfectly fine at the game. Lesnar’s defenders claimed that Brock was still very sick, but gutted it out for the event. I saw the video and posted it here. I don’t think there is anything wrong with him doing this between fights, but I do have to question the seriousness of the illness after watching the video. If Lesnar was really as sick as what was being conveyed, any other professional athlete would have canceled the appearance. Why risk making yourself more sick by rolling out of bed, dealing with the media, and blowing an over-sized horn?

The plot thickened last week when several writers reported that Lesnar was still sick and that the UFC 108 fight wasn’t going to happen. The UFC and Dana White confirmed the news after several reporters leaked the information. Dana White met with the media over the weekend at UFC 105 and talked frankly about Lesnar’s illness. White’s comments stunned the MMA world when he revealed for the first time that Lesnar’s career is in serious jeopardy.

“[Lesnar] is in bad shape, and the reality is they don’t really know all that’s wrong with him,” White said. “He owns a bunch of property in Canada. He went up to Canada just to get away from his house, to go up there and just kind of chill out up there. He [expletive] dropped. He went down, and he had to go to the hospital. They ran every test on the planet on him, and they ended up finding out something else was wrong with him.”

“He is not good,” White said. “He is very, very sick, and he’s going to be out for a while.

“He doesn’t want to talk about it publicly, but he’s in bad shape. He’s not well. He’s not going to be getting well anytime soon.” – MMAJunkie.com.

TheStar.com out of Toronto reports that Lesnar may be admitted into the Mayo Clinic for surgery. If so, this is very serious and goes well beyond any kind of fighting career. Quite frankly, I have to believe that there is something more wrong with Lesnar than mono. It truly is amazing that someone in such tremendous physical condition as Brock Lesnar can just deteriorate in a matter of weeks.

My hunch is that while we may see Brock Lesnar back in the UFC, it won’t be until next summer. If he has something this seriously wrong with him, it is going to take him time to recuperate from surgery and get himself back into training shape. At the same time, Dana White is going to be very hesitant to promote a fight with Lesnar until he is 100% sure that Brock is cured and ready. Unfortunately that day could possibly never come.

Brock Lesnar has fought four times in the UFC in yet his MMA career seems much bigger. Never has someone immediately grabbed so much attention and such little time in MMA and turned themselves literally into a UFC superstar overnight. Lesnar’s UFC career did not come without controversy. Quick title shots and controversial antics outside of the ring turned Lesnar into a very polarizing figure in MMA. Ironically in the end, the final memory of Brock Lesnar may be getting into his opponents face post-fight, criticizing a sponsor, and giving fans the middle finger.

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Welcome to my new, weekly article for the Camel-Clutch Blog. Every week, I’ll fill this article full of all of the big mixed-martial arts news, rumors, upcoming cards, results and predictions. MMA is a passion of mine and has passed professional wrestling years ago as something that I follow 24/7. Enjoy “The Full Mount,” second edition; or as you will see, should maybe be known as the Strikeforce edition.

The Shot Heard Round the World

The big news of the week is undoubtedly the sickening knockout that Fedor Emelianenko delivered to Brett Rogers during Saturday night’s Strikeforce special on CBS. Fedor’s debut with an American organization ended up being exactly what expected. Casual MMA fans have always heard about the guy who had been called the best pound-for-pound mixed-martial artist in the world. That guy has earned the reputation as being able to take a beating and still win a fight in devastating fashion. That was last night’s tale; word-for-word.

Brett Rogers impressed a lot of people in this fight, myself included. We all knew that Rogers had heavy hands and a history of knocking out his opponents. In fact, he’s knocked his opponents out in nine of his ten matches. Brett Rogers had Fedor on the ropes in round 1. His very first jab of the fight broke Fedor’s nose. He also caught Fedor with a flush right hook midway through the round. Rogers even had a dominant ground-and-pound position on Fedor. Rogers won round 1. For whatever reason, Rogers came out looking much different in round 2. He looked hesitant. He backed away from his game plan. As Fedor mentioned in his post-fight interview, Rogers stopped pressing forward. Instead, he started taking baby-steps and lowered his hands. You can make that mistake against Andrei Arlovski, but not against the best fighter in the world. Fedor lunged forward with w highlight-reel straight right hand that caught Rogers on the button. This was a punch that produced a sickening thud. It was a shot that made you know that the fight would be over. If you weren’t a believer of Fedor before, you are now.

Taking a Slice out of the Ratings

Saturdays Strikeforce averaged 3.79 million viewers. This included a very impressive 1.7/6 rating share among the 18-49 demographic. The 1.7/6 share is triple the average number for CBS during that weekly time. Both numbers are below both of Kimbo Slice’s EliteXC on CBS battles. This cannot be viewed as a positive for Strikeforce when the best fighter on the planet can’t out-rate a YouTube street fighting legend. Why could this be?

Well, for one, a show on free, national television should naturally attract more casual MMA fans. That’s the whole reason for the CBS/MMA experiment. In order for Strikeforce to achieve the popularity and success of the UFC, they’re going to need to lure in casual and new MMA fans. These types of fans may just not know who Fedor Emelianenko or Brett Rogers are. Kimbo Slice gained fame on the internet. Many people who were not into MMA probably caught sight of a Kimbo Slice street fight or two at one point. It makes me wonder aloud if the addition of Gina Carano to this card would have pushed it above in the ratings race. My money says that, prior to Fedor’s knockout of Rogers, Carano would have been a bigger draw amongst the exact type of fans that they were targeting.

What’s Next for Strikeforce?

A Fedor Emelianenko/Fabricio Werdum fight is in the works. Also, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker stated that within the next 7-10 days, they will sign two top free-agent heavyweights. Andrei Arlovski and Bobby Lashley, anyone?
Strikeforce Fedor vs Rogers Review

In my predictions last week, I chose the winners of the four main bouts to be Fedor Emelianenko, Jake Shields, Gegard Mousasi, and Antonio Silva. I went an impressive 3-1 with these picks. My lone incorrect choice was Antonio Silva, who lost via decision to Fabricio Werdum. Of course, I believe that Silva won this match 29-28. The three judges that count, however, disagreed.

Brock Lesnar/Shane Carwin Postponed Again

The Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin matchup originally scheduled for UFC 106 but postponed for UFC 108 is now postponed once again. This time, however, no new date has been announced. Lesnar has been stricken with mononucleosis and is unable to train at all. It is unknown at this time how long he will be on the sidelines. My guess is that this fight ends up at UFC 109 in February, 2009. This leaves the UFC year-end card now without a main event. The original card called for Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort to battle it out for the Middleweight title, but that match has been postponed as well due to Silva’s behind-schedule rehab from elbow surgery. Historically, the end of the year show has always been UFC’s biggest. As of now, Cain Velasquez/Big Nog and Rashad Evans/Thiago Silva will head this card. With injuries and A-Team movies throwing wrench after wrench into the UFC’s fight plans, who knows what they can put together to headline this card. I believe one such change could simply be to make the winner of the Velasquez-Nogueira match the interim Heavyweight Champion; thus, the winner of this match fighting the winner of Lesnar-Carwin.

UFC 105 Predictions

Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera
Prediction: Brandon Vera via TKO (Yes, you read that right.)

Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy
Prediction: Mike Swick via Decision

Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang
Prediction: Michael Bisping via TKO

James Wilks vs. Matt Brown
Prediction: James Wilks via Submission

Ross Pearson vs. Aaron Riley
Prediction: Ross Pearson via Decision

I hope you enjoyed the second edition of ‘The Full Mount”. If you have any questions that you would like answered in the next edition, please e-mail me at Brettley916@aol.com. Thanks.

Brett is 26 years old and from Millville, NJ. He has is a life-log fan of the Philadelphia sports teams as well as the Boston red Sox and Cincinnati Bengals. Brett is also a big fan of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. If you would like to comment on one of his stories, please e-mail him at Brettley916@aol.com

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Welcome to my new, weekly article for the Camel-Clutch Blog. Every week, I’ll fill this article full of all of the big mixed-martial arts news, rumors, upcoming cards, results and predictions. MMA is a passion of mine and has passed professional wrestling years ago as something that I follow 24/7. Enjoy “The Full Mount.”

All Mixed Up
If there’s one thing for the casual fan to learn very quickly about MMA, it’s that a card is never actually set in stone until the night of an event. The bad news began on Monday when it was announced that the UFC 106 match between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin had been postponed to UFC 108 on January 2010. Then came the news that Josh Koscheck and Anthony Johnson will now co-main event UFC 106 to fill the void. I love Kos and I love “Rumble” Johnson, but this is no co-main event.

Remember when Jon Fitch was scheduled to face Ricardo Almeida at UFC 106? That matchup idea seems like so long ago. After Almeida backed out of the fight due to injury, they made a match between Fitch and Thiago Alves for UFC 107. This week then brought us the news that Alves is now injured and cannot compete in that fight. Fitch will now face rising newcomer, Mike Pierce at UFC 107. Pierce is 9-1, with 6 consecutive victories including his upset over Brock Larson at UFC Fight Night 19.

Today brings us the news that the UFC 108 main event between Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort has been postponed as well. Silva recently had elbow surgery and is going to need more time to rehab. With Lesnar/Carwin moving to UFC 108, that more than fills the void left by Silva/Belfort. UFC 108 is stacked!

It’s A Bad Time To Be Champ
How’d bad is it to be a champion in the UFC right now? Here’s how bad:

UFC Heavyweight Champ Brock Lesnar – Out until January with some type of flu
Lightweight Champ Lyoto Machida – Out until April or May after surgery on his hand
Middleweight Champ Anderson Silva – Out until February or March after elbow surgery
Welterweight Champ Georges St. Pierre – Out until March with a torn abductor muscle
Lightweight Champ BJ Penn – Healthy, for now…but will he be after his UFC 107 match with Diego Sanchez? If being a champ in the UFC has anything to say about it, my guess is, no.

“Houston, We Have a Problem”
That was the line that Kimbo Slice updated his Twitter with on Friday. It was just a few minutes after he updated the account with “I Accept.” What was Kimbo exactly referencing? Dana White had stated in a radio interview over a month ago that we would see Kimbo Slice on The Ultimate Fighter 10 finale. There have been rumors for weeks regarding who Kimbo would be facing at that event. The rumors seemed to center around three specific names; Roy Nelson, Seth Petruzelli, and Houston Alexander.

MMAJunkie.com is reporting that Houston Alexander will be the man to face Slice. Alexander has applied for a license to fight with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Since bursting onto the UFC scene with highlight reel knockouts against Alessio Sakara and Keith Jardine, Houston was the victim of three straight UFC losses. He has since won one match in another organization. This will be his first match back with the UFC.

Another major note is that this match with be at a catchweight of 215 lbs. Alexander has always fought at 205 and Slice’s most recent TUF match against Roy Nelson was at 230 lbs. It has been assumed that since Slice joined American Top Team, that he would move down to 205 lbs. Slice stands a much better chance against the likes of Liddell and Couture than against guys like Cain and Dos Santos. Heavyweights now know that Slice can be tossed around at will. And, according to Nelson, all you need to do is sit on Slice’s chest and softly tap his head 12 times in order to beat him. 205 lbs. is where Slice needs to end up and it seems that this 215 catchweight bout is American Top Team’s way of moving him towards that mark.

It’s way too early for a prediction. Don’t expect to see any arm bars and triangle chokes in this match. These guys will be swinging for the fences. One of these two guys is virtually guaranteed the Knockout of the Night Bonus. This is a match that Kimbo Slice can win just as much as it is a match that can earn Houston Alexander a new UFC contract.

Strikeforce: Fedor Emelianenko vs Brett Rogers Predictions
Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers takes place this coming Saturday, November 7 live on CBS. It will be the first nationally-televised on network TV event since Kimbo Slice got TKO’d by Seth Petruzelli. Fedor Emelianenko makes his much-anticipated Strikeforce debut. He will be fighting the undefeated Brett Rogers. Rogers is 10-0 with 9 knockouts. Rogers has never had a match last longer than a minute-thirty eight through the send round. His notable wins are over James Thompson and Andrei Arlovski. Fedor, however, is 30-1 with 1 no contest. His one loss was due to a doctor stoppage after an illegal, accidentally elbow from Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. He holds victories over Mark Coleman, Antonio Nogueira, Mirko Cro Cop, Tim Sylvia, Heath Herring and Andrei Arvlovski. Fedor is commonly called the top-ranked all-around fighter on the planet. I’m just not sold on that. I’ll take GSP and Anderson Silva over Fedor on that list any day of the week.

Here’s why I am not sold on Fedor. We all know that the most talented organization in the world is the UFC. Until Fedor fights in the UFC and beats some of the heavyweights there, he can’t possibly be the best heavyweight, better yet, the best all-around fighter in the world. Who has Fedor beaten that earns him any prize? In my opinion, his only victory worth noting is over Nogueira. His victories over Coleman, Cro Cop, Sylvia, Herring and Arvlovski came way after any of those fighters’ primes. Each of those guys were on the downside of their careers. He hasn’t beaten anyone that Brett Rogers couldn’t beat. This is exactly why Fedor has joined Strikeforce. Though it’s not the UFC, it’s better than where he’s been. A few victories in Strikeforce will at least give him credibility. Still, until Fedor steps inside of a UFC octagon and fights the likes of Lesnar, Carwin, Couture, Velasquez, Mir, Kongo, and Dos Santos, he simply will always have an asterisk next to his name. With that said…it’s prediction time.

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers

Prediction: Fedor Emelianenko via Submission

Middleweight Championship Bout: Jason Miller vs. Jake Shields (c)
Prediction: Jake Shields via Decision

Light-Heavyweight Non-Title Bout: Gegard Mousasi vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
Prediction: Gegard Mousasi via Knockout

Antonio Silva vs. Fabricio Werdum
Prediction: Antonio Silva via TKO

I hope you enjoyed the first edition of ‘The Full Mount”. If you have any questions that you would like answered in the next edition, please e-mail me at Brettley916@aol.com. Thanks.

Brett is 26 years old and from Millville, NJ. He has is a life-log fan of the Philadelphia sports teams as well as the Boston red Sox and Cincinnati Bengals. Brett is also a big fan of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. If you would like to comment on one of his stories, please e-mail him at Brettley916@aol.com

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The much-anticipated November 21 showdown between UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin is going to have to wait. The major announcement came today from Dana White via Yahoo! Sports. White stated that Lesnar has been sick for approximately three-and-a-half weeks with some type of flu like illness. It has been rumored that Lesnar has been suffering from the H1N1 virus; however, White stated today that he does not believe this to be the case.

“(Brock) said he’s never been this sick in his life,” White said. “He said it’s been going on for a long time and he just hasn’t been able to shake it.” Here’s where things get interesting. Dana White stated that this fight was simply cancelled and that he was unsure if this fight would simply be postponed or if Carwin will continue to fight on the card.

Carwin reacted to the news via Twitter. “Very disappointed,” he first tweeted. He then seemed to hint that he heard this news via the Internet as well by tweeting, “its disappointing hearing about your career and life through the media. Nothing from the boss’s yet.” An hour later, Carwin stated that he had officially received the news from his management that the fight had been postponed to UFC 108 on January 2, 2010. He added, “I had h1n1 myself and I understand how devastating it can be.”

So, where does this leave UFC 106, 107, and 108? If this fight is simply postponed to UFC 108 on January 2, it would give that card the much needed final piece to the UFC’s annual end-of-the-year extravaganza. UFC 108 would then boast a card of Brock Lesnar/Shane Carwin, Anderson Silva/Vitor Belfort, Rashad Evans/Thiago Silva, Gabriel Gonzaga/Junior Dos Santos, and Carlos Condit/Paul Daley. The undercard of this event would feature names like Tyson Griffin, Martin Kampmann, Joe Lauzon, and Cole Miller.

While UFC 108 would be stacked, it would leave a gaping hole in the card of UFC 106. Aside from the co-main event of Tito Ortiz versus Forrest Griffin, this is a rather lackluster card. Since UFC 101, every card has been rather weak. UFC 102 was led by Randy Couture and Antonio Nogueira and UFC 103 was main-evented by Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort. Then came the horrendous, scandal-filled UFC 104 that had Lyoto Machida being handed a win that he didn’t deserve and Cain Velasquez being awarded a TKO while punching an opponent who was standing up. Coming up, we have a rather weak-looking UFC 105 free Spike event on November 14. Until this announcement, UFC 106 was going to be the show that changed this abnormal streak of weak events. So, could UFC afford to put out five lackluster cards if it makes up for it with two stacked cards to end the year?

Let’s say Carwin decides to still fight at UFC 106. What are the options? Well, a few that come to mind are Cain Velasquez, Antonio Nogueira, Frank Mir, Cheick Kongo, and Junior Dos Santos seem to make sense. Cain would probably take this fight faster than anyone else, but it is standard for every fighter to receive a minimum of a 30-day medical suspension after a fight. So, that rules him out. Mir and Congo are currently scheduled to face one another at UFC 107. This fight is simply not worth moving up to UFC 106. Dos Santos is coming off a decisive victory over Mirko Cro Cop and is currently scheduled to take on Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 108. This fight won’t move up either. If Carwin decides to fight, my guess is that he’ll either fight Frank Mir or Antonio Nogueira. Those three guys seem to make up the top of the division and there would be a logical reason for each of these guys who fight.

If Carwin decides to take his guaranteed title shot and simply wait the extra 40 days, what are the options for UFC 106? The card is simply not worth buying without an additional fight. One such option could be a number one contender’s match between Frank Mir and Antonio Nogueira. Mir rightfully deserves a third match with Lesnar and Nogueira is coming off a decisive victory over Randy Couture. Nog is also aging, so it is smart to make money off of this guy while you can. One question many people are immediately asking is, “what about Lyoto Machida/Shogun Rua II?” Well, Dana White did say he wants an immediate rematch and both guys have already said anytime, anywhere. Is a rematch in 25 days too soon? Probably so, but UFC 107 or UFC 109 is more likely. The only such reasoning I can see that would merit this match at UFC 106 would be because these guys have already been training for each other over the last 3 months. This simply will not happen, however. No way.

Unfortunately, given the nature of the sport, things like this happen. UFC must develop some type of system that has a match ready to be placed on a card in the case of something like this happening again. Possibly they could take one match from the following card and inform both fighters that it is possible that their fight could be used as a replacement fight for the previous card if needed. Whatever the case, some sort of reform is needed.

Once again, UFC has had a major matchup cancelled, postponed, or blown up with very short notice and very little time to make a suitable change. The only thing we know right now is that Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin will not be fighting on November 21st in Las Vegas. If they do fight, it will now be at UFC 108 on January 2, 2010. At the moment, everything else is up in the air.

Brett is 26 years old and from Millville, NJ. He has is a life-log fan of the Philadelphia sports teams as well as the Boston red Sox and Cincinnati Bengals. Brett is also a big fan of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. If you would like to comment on one of his stories, please e-mail him at Brettley916@aol.com

Place your UFC and MMA bets on BetUs.com by clicking here.

Pre-order the EA Sports: MMA Video Game by clicking here.

New Items Marked Down! Shop the UFC Sale at the UFC Store.

Grab a Death Clutch Brock Lesnar UFC 100 Walkout shirt by clicking here.

Order WWE – Brock Lesnar – Here Comes the Pain on DVD by clicking here.