UFC 116 link.

Brock Lesnar

Heavyweight Championship bout:  Brock Lesnar (c) vs  Shane Carwin (ic)

Lesnar makes his long awaited return to the cage to defend his title against Carwin.  The UFC is billing this one as the Clash of the Titans and it’s easy to see why when you look at the size of Lesnar.  The ex WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) pro-wrestler has evolved to the UFC.  Looking at his sporting history and achievements on wikipedia he appears to be one of these people who excels at anything he turns his hand to; damn him

Lesnar is one of the only UFC fighters I have noticed that seems to pay close attention to his stance: always maintaining a Tactical-Stance and crab-walking wherever he needs to go in the cage.  This is something you don’t often see to this extent.  A Tactical-Stance is one of the most important aspects in the Combat System of  Zen Ki Bo, where a great deal of emphasis is put on the basics, based on the tried and tested strategy that when a human needs to defend himself he will revert back to the basics, and the stance is the foundation of everything.

Carwin completely dominates the first round with magnificent striking, knocking Lesner to the canvas and continuing to pound him.  Most fighters would give up or be counted out in this position but Lesnar somehow resisted it.  Wow.  He seems to have sustained lacerations to his right and left eye from this onslaught.  One of the cuts appears to be over the left eye of Lesner, any fighter will tell you that this is bad news for two reasons, first the ref can stop the fight and second the blood will steam down into your eye making you essentially temporarily blind in one eye.

Coming out for the second round Lesner is much more careful and both men are tired.  Lesner does however go in for the take-down and once on the ground rests all of his weight on the slightly smaller man.  There is limited striking going on but do not underestimate how difficult it is to have a heavy opponent on top of you.

Quick as a flash, Lesner tightens up the choke hold on Carwin and forces a tap-out, winning the match and maintaining his Heavyweight Title.  Its called an arm-triangle-choke in the UFC, but of course it’s taken from the Martial Arts; usually executed in a standing position after moving inside of a strike.  It compromises the flow of oxygenated blood to the brain by cutting off one of the ‘blood-highways’ on the neck, or carotid artery.  See diagram:

Carotid Artery diagram

In his post-fight speech, Lesner attributes his win to god : “I am blessed by god”..  personally I would have thought it was due to the years of dedication and training to his chosen sport.

The loser, Shane Carwin also thanks “god” in his post-fight speech.  I guess that means that the big man upstairs does play favourites?!? Unless he just has a gambling problem..

Undercard: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs.  Chris Leben

Akiyama, apparently the traditional Martial Artist, comes to the cage in his Martial Arts uniform.  Leben just comes out ready to fight.

Leben starts the 1st round with some heavy leg kicks (dropping his hands when he does so), but not making significant contact.  Akiyama is ‘on the ball’ however, easily evading most of them.

Also worth noticing that Leben fights with his elbows out, which is unorthodox.  Part of the 1st round sees Akiyama dominate on the ground.  With 30 seconds left in the first, they stand up and resume striking until Leben is taken down again, but with no time left the round finishes.

I was somewhat dismayed to see Akiyama lean in with a single straight-punch to the body, which of course was answered by Leben with a punch to the face.  Thats the ironic thing about attacking, it leaves you open to counter attack, so you better make sure your attack is strategic and with Intent.

Half way through the second round sees both men exhausted after some hard fighting.  They are still fighting, but with depleted energy.

Hats off to both combatants, they both probably should have been knocked out at different stages but they kept going somehow.  Amazing show of toughness – they are earning their money tonight.

It seems to me that Akiyama is the Martial Artist and Leben is the unorthodox brawler.  I think if the brawler lands something significant he will probably win, however if that doesn’t happen its hard to match the skill of a Martial Artist.  (Ha, just after I wrote that last sentence the “brawler” submits Akiyama with a leg triangle, so there you go!)

Well done to Leben; he did display more “bad intent” and therefore won the day.

Always makes me smile when you have a look at who is in the audience of such events; United States Senator (Nevada) Harry Reid, actor Steve Austin, actor Dwayne Johnson; all people who rely on other men to do their bidding for them and feel tough when they are somehow “associated” with the actual men who are willing to actually fight.  Another case of empowerment by association.  It used to be the boxing that brought together people from all walks of life, and now it’s well and truly the UFC.