UFC 111 Results: The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, was rocking for last night’s UFC 111 event in which two UFC championship titles were on the line. The main event of the night saw overwhelming sports betting odds favorite (20-2-0) Georges St-Pierre retain his UFC welterweight title by outclassing (23-7-0, 1 NC) Dan Hardy on the ground for a rather easy unanimous decision. But the fight that had everyone buzzing, thus, winning Knockout of the Night, as the interim battle between undefeated (12-0-0) Shane Carwin against former two-time, UFC heavyweight champion, (13-5-0) Frank Mir.
Going into this fight, everyone made a big deal about Carwin’s lack of experience versus world-class opponents, as well the fact that this guy hadn’t gotten past the two minute, 11-second mark in any of his 11 professional fights. Promising a quick finish before the fight, the 35-year-old, former collegiate wrestling star, failed miserably compared to his previous bouts, as it took him a whole 3 minutes and 48 seconds to send Frank Mir into a state of unconsciousness.
After feeling each other out in opening minutes, Carwin pinned Mir against the cage and unloaded with a serious of vicious (left) uppercuts from the clinch that landed flush. Mir’s legs went limp from the hits and Carwin swarmed on him in what looked like a replay of the Brock Lesnar fight.
After taking some devastating blows to the face, Mir eventually collapse, flattening out facedown on the mat, and Carwin pounded his head with his 4XL gloves on his way to a KO victory. “The plan was to push Frank up against the fence and dirty box him,” Carwin said. “I’m kind of mean and aggressive there. We worked on that all camp, just getting him to the fence and beating him up and trying to take him into the later rounds.”
Carwin will now face Brock Lesnar in a unification bout that has been scheduled for July 3 at UFC 116. Sitting Octagon side, a smiling Lesnar watched all the action, scouting his next opponent.
“I kind of figured Shane was going to win, though I know anything can happen in this sport,” Lesnar said. “I was kind of laying back and I didn’t want to count any chickens before they hatched. Shane’s a tough guy and I just know that Frank’s time is done. This is the new evolution of the heavyweight division. Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, we’re the guys in this division.”
Now the interim champ, Carwin will finally get his shot at Brock, who was forced to withdraw from their scheduled fight back in November 21st of last year, and again on January 2nd due to what eventually became known as in intestinal problem.
“This belt thing, well, hopefully he enjoys the moment,” Lesnar said as Carwin posed for photos after his destruction of Mir. “He should enjoy the win over Frank, but he has to realize that I’m the heavyweight champion. Everybody knows that. Good for him winning that fake belt.
“I had to pull out against him last fall and I didn’t feel good about that. But I couldn’t fight a guy like that if I wasn’t in the best shape of my life. I had to do what I had to do.”
