The biggest man inside the UFC octagon not named Brock Lesnar is fellow heavyweight star-in-the-making Shane Carwin.
Like Lesnar, he is blessed with a rare combination of size, strength, and athleticism that is unparalleled in MMA today.
Both men stand well over six feet tall (Carwin 6’4,” Lesnar 6’3”) and have to cut weight to reach the heavyweight limit of 265 pounds before their fights.
Prior to UFC 96 the fans and media could not quite figure out Shane Carwin. Everyone knew he was physically gifted and had potential, but that was the extent of their assessments.
Carwin was just 2–0 in the UFC and 10–0 overall in his young career at that juncture. His two UFC wins were first round knockouts against Christian Wellisch and Neil Wain, neither of which is considered a top level contender. He had never fought a top flight contender prior to joining the UFC either.
The combination of the small sample size of fights and lack of quality opponents was puzzling when trying to determine how he would perform against a world class heavyweight like his UFC 96 adversary Gabriel Gonzaga.
Needless to say Carwin set the record straight very quickly and was able to answer a lot of critics that night. It was another victory on the resume and yet another first round knockout. To this day he has yet to see the second round as a professional fighter.
The win over the former No. 1 heavyweight contender Gonzaga was essentially a fair warning to the rest of the division that he’s a legitimate contender and he is going to be a tough matchup for anyone.
Fresh off another day of training, Carwin took some time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions regarding his past, present, and uncertain future.
Continue reading to find out how he is progressing from injury, how important Nate Marquardt has been to his success, and who he’d be happy fighting if he doesn’t get the opportunity to face the Frank Mir/Brock Lesnar UFC 100 winner.
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Derek Bolender: I’d like to travel back to the night of UFC 96 for a second. Gabriel Gonzaga lands a couple good shots on you and then takes you down. You find yourself on your back with a jiu-jitsu black belt on top of you. What was going through your head at that moment?
Shane Carwin: At that moment I was pretty calm and composed by then. My only thoughts were to get up and get out and get back on the feet again. Stuff that has worked a thousand times in training.
I’ve got black belts on top of me like Eliot Marshall and Nate Marquardt all the time. It wasn’t like anything that was unfamiliar to me. My major goal was just to get up and get back to the feet with Gabe.
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