Is Brock Lesnar A Changed Man, Or Playing Head Games w/ Shane Carwin?

It looks like Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin have played a game of role reversal leading into their UFC 116 main event next Saturday in Las Vegas. Lesnar, the controversial former WWE Champion who is the reigning UFC Heavyweight Champion is coming off a devastating bout with diverticulitis, and appears to be a changed man. Even his close friend Paul Heyman, one of the very few people Lesnar has remained in touch with from his days in WWE, wrote about Lesnar's demeanor in a blog posted on The Heyman Hustle website over the weekend.

In the blog (which can be read here: http://heymanhustle.craveonline.com/articles/news/103002-carwin-eating-carnivore), Heyman (who hysterically describes Lesnar as a "Carwin-Eating Carnivore") wrote the following:

There is an eery calmness to Brock Lesnar these days. I've never seen him this close to a major event and yet have so much peace of mind. Usually, he's a self-described "bear with a sore ass" heading into fight week. This time, however, Brock's approach is a bit different. No tension. No pacing. No "can't wait til I get in there and the fight starts" mentality. Brock Lesnar is simply counting down the days until he has a job to do, and that job is to once again unify the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
 
"I have a different perspective on everything," the only man who has ever held the NCAA, WWE, and UFC Heavyweight Championships said, "I know what I have to do, and I am sure Shane Carwin knows I am uniquely capable of doing it."
 
The way I look at it, from my own personal perspective, is that one of two things is happening here. The first scenario is really scary. We may be witnessing a dramatic shift in the Lesnar mindset, a far different approach than he's ever carried with him into the Octagon. Uh oh. That could be a very scary "unknown factor" for Shane Carwin to deal with. The other possibility is Brock is at one with his own emotions, and the beast will emerge when that Octagon door is locked, and it's only Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, and the referee inside the cage. Having known Brock for over 8 years, I can't tell you which scenario is scarier. They both seem pretty frightening to me.
 

Carwin, meanwhile, has shunned the media, one of Lesnar's old habits, in the hype leading up to the fight. In what little media he's done, he has discussed his $40,000 pay for the event, with the chance at a $40,000 bonus for the win. He also mentioned he has no pay per view bonus earmarked for the fight. Discussing Zuffa paydays is a definite no-no with Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta.

Carwin also took offense to comments made by Yahoo! Sports MMA reporter and Wrestling Observer newsletter editor Dave Meltzer, criticized Carwin for his lack of any enthusiasm or even hype during the split screen interview that had both Brock Lesnar and Carwin on screen during The Ultimate Finale.  Meltzer said that Carwin “didn’t say a thing” and looked “annoyed or detached” and didn't seem interested in promoting the fight. Carwin defended himself that he doesn’t want to be “some company guy that says bullshit to sell tickets” as he finds such “smack talk” nothing more than “silly kids games.”

Carwin even posted a message regarding this on his own website, and said the following:

Those in the Media that want to chastise me have not even attempted to reach out through proper channels to get an interview. I never said I wasn’t doing interviews or eliminating media. I said I was not taking any direct media request. I just do not have the time to spend “just 15 minutes” on the phone answering the same questions over and over. The time adds up and that time has to come from my other job, family or training. None of which are worth sacrificing more than the need to promote a fight. I have however accepted 100% of the interview request that Zuffa has presented me.

As a pissed off Shane Carwin and a new, man-with-peace-of-mind Brock Lesnar get ready to collide at UFC 116, the way both men are handling the pressure going into the fight seems to be a very interesting scenario to watch play out.