Undefeated heavyweight specimen Shane Carwin announced today that he expects to return to the Octagon at UFC 104, which is scheduled to go down at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif., on Oct. 24.
The three-time All-American wrestler and two-time All-American in football out of Western State College in Gunnison, Colo., did not mention an opponent, saying he was “not sure yet.” However, rumors have swirled in recent days and weeks that his foe could be none other than fellow heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez.
For now it appears be just that, rumor. Nothing is official at this time.
Carwin has been on the sidelines since having surgery to a repair a broken nose, which was “crushed” during his fight with Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 96: “Jackson vs. Jardine” from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on March 7.
Despite the injury and some choppy waters in the first minute of the opening round, Carwin was able to takedown the Brazilian Yeti and pound him out en route to an impressive technical knockout. “Napao” was hands down the biggest test of his bright career and Carwin passed with flying colors.
With quick wins over Gonzaga, as well as Christian Wellisch and Neil Wain under the UFC banner, “The Engineer”– who still works full-time for the North Weld County Water District in Colorado — is now seemingly on the brink of a title shot.
This next fight could just be enough to push him over the edge, or, it could send him to the back of the line, depending on his performance at UFC 104 and the corresponding results.
We’ll pass along news of his Carwin’s opponent as soon as possible. In the meantime, feel free to speculate and play matchmaker in the comments section below.
UFC 104 currently features a light heavyweight title fight between newly-minted champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida in his first title defense against 2005 Pride FC Middleweight Grand Prix winner Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
To check out the latest UFC 104 fight card and rumors click here.
66 Comments »
Wow…still working full time. Must be for the health insurance
Thats no joke, if you end up in the hospital with a serious injury and you’re on your own to pay it.. ouch..
his next opponent will be valesquez according to a few sites
even if it is, it isnt really breaking news its simple logic to match these two up against each other at ufc 104
Mania, thats not how Carwin beat Gonzaga… he didn’t take him down and pound him out, he knocked him out with a fantastic right hand. Undoubtedly a highlight reel one punch knockout!!
I don’t think his Insurance plan covers Cage Fighting… could be wrong though.
I don’t want him to face against Valesquez yet. God the need to constantly keep funneling contenders to top is killing the overall game of young talents. I wanna see them very good technically before fighting for belts instead of allowing their physical attributes to limit their skills.
They are both coming off big wins against top contenders though and because of that it makes for a perfect matchup.
I would agree if one of them had much more experience than the other but they are both fairly green and big prospects for the division so this will put forward a clear contender for the future.
Even though Cain has had less fights I think he has had more experience in the ring with Kongo than Carwin has had in his whole career!
I would have like to see Carwin vs Dos Santos as they are both big and heavy hitters and would be a very exciting fight. I like Cain but I don’t think his chin will last to see the second round in this one. Should still be very interesting though.
I’d really like to see Junior Dos Santos again too.. Any word on him
?
Yeah, he has a big test coming up. Some bad a$$ named Justin McCully.
lol~
LOL!
For real, Dos Santos vs. McCully???
Even McCully can place a bet on Dos Santos in that fight!
Awe sh!t, McCully?!?!? He’s totally f*cked it’s way too soon for that. I know Carwins a good wrestler and all but trying to deal with the awesome grandeur of the Insane One’s ground skills is suicide… Like I said, if Fedor fought McCully that would be the end of his reign and maybe even his life…
R.I.P Shane Carwin
R.I.P. Dos Santos *
I would rewrite that post but it’s already out there.. I screwed up already and I’m just too lazy to go through the trouble…
If it is Carwin and Cain. That would be a great test for each of them.
Yes, but I think this is too soon. Way too soon. Both these guys could be given 2-3 more fights, and then their match-up could be a main event.
Seriously, let these two develop a little bit more. I think they are both still a little under the radar. Why match them both up so soon? Bad move, methinks.
(Obviously, it’ll still be a great fight!)
It’s gonna be valasquez
I think not. When Carwin rocks Brown Pride with a hard shot or two BP won’t be able to abuse a stupid and inferior wrestler to regain his senses.
against velasquez that will be a good fight and i dont see another option for the title contention right now…i´m just waiting for someone who can last more than a round with shane that guy is a beast!!
Everyone wants it let’s get it.
Carwin vs velazquez
Let’s seeeee it
Cain just spanked a top 5 hw in ufc
And carwin just ko a top 5 hw
Why not???
Who the hell is going to fight the winner of Brock/Mir?
I dont know man, but thats a great question. . . Maybe if Carwin wins his next fight he could possibly fight for the title. I mean he just knocked out a guy who challenged for hte title a while back in Gabe Gonzaga, and thats not an easy thing to do. I think alot of people would love to see a fight with hiom and Brock because they are both monsters. And a fight with Mir would be pretty sweet aswell. Although i think he would have a better shot against Lesnar judging on their styles.
Yeah I The winner of Cain/Carwin against the winner of Mir/Lesnar & the loser of Cain/Carwin against loser of Mir/Lesnar. Both fights would be exciting to me no matter who wins or loses out of the 4.
randy – nog winner
If it’s Nog, I’ll agree. But I don’t think anyone needs to see Lesnar pummel Randy again.
I guarantee it wont be Nog. Couture is going to out kickbox him and decide where he wants the fight to take place. theres no way Nog could take Couture down.
wat the hell, lesnar had a hard time against randy idk y u guys act like it was easy..
because they only remember the last 30 seconds of the fight. Randy was Game.
Randy was game. I thought he was doing quite well. I was starting to think that Randy needed to look to finish because carrying Brock’s weight around wouldn’t have been easy for 5 rounds.
I think Brock is going to end Mir fast in that fight.
…If Carwin wins over Velasquez, Carwin is the next one for Brock, I know both fights can go either way but I don’t see it.
That sucks… That means Brock and/or Mir only fight once in 2009?
true.
Great news, this card is going to be stacked. Lyoto-Shogun and Carwin-Cain are great fights. This fight will be tough to call, Carwin has proven punching power and strength as well as much better wrestling than Kongo, so he will be a big test but the deciding factor could be their training as Carwin is still working and has unproven cardio whilst Cain is at AKA. This will either be a quick KO win for Carwin or Cain will grind out a decision or possibly a late stoppage once Carwin tires.
Whoever wins, I’m convinced that they will beat the Lesnar-Mir winner for the belt, one of these guys is going to become a huge force in the HW division and it’s great that we’re going to find out which one will take the next step.
I dont think this will be close at all. After seeing Carwin get up and KO a much bigger opponent in Gonzaga after getting smashed himself, I dont think Cain will have the size or strength to stop Carwin from landing the fight ending KO.
You are right his cardio may be the only questionable aspect that we are unsure of at the moment though.
I just think Carwin vs Dos Santos would have been a much closer fight and more evenly matched too.
They should put Cain against Crocop (if he takes the fight this time) or Herring or maybe even the skyscraper Struve!
winner of Big Nog and Randy? I know no one wants to see brock and randy again tho… So who knows… i wouldn’t mind seeing big nog vs mir again or brock vs big nog tho… it will be exciting to see how everything in the hvwt division unfolds within the next year or so…
what????? i’d LOVE to see Randy vs Brock again. Randy was working and was on his way to wearing the big guy down before he got caught. i’d love to see a rematch!
You gotta love Randy but that just WAY TOO MUCH size to give up against Lesnar who despite his size is pretty quick and agile. I’d like to see them break the HW class into at least 2 classes.
Yep dos santos is a question
Id like to see him fight kongo or herring
And as for mir lesnar winner they should fight carwin or cain winner imo (if happen)
cain I think has a good chance on carwin
My guess is cus gonzaga took him down with ease and cain is awesome wrestler
But also cain is no slouch standing I think he’s much faster than carwin but clipped cain can go down.
I think Carwin went down with ease due to the fact a concrete block smashed his nose, and then another hit his jaw, which caused a “stunning” effect on Carwin, which made it unable for him to stop the takedown.
Gonzaga goes for the same takedown without landing those huge shots, Carwin is stopping it, hands down.
I musta missed that only saw fight once gotta see again
has to be against cain or herring
great co main event can’t wait to see it
AA anyone?
I would love to see Andrei come back to the ufc, hes my favorite heavyweight. But i think he would get destroyed if he fought Brock. He would proby beat the shit out of Mir though.
What’s the point…Carwin would instantly turn his jaw to gelatin…I would that word…gelatin…
I love that word I mean….I can’t even trail off right.
Put the beer down first next time.
It IS Canada Day haha…but you wouldn’t know it from the lack of scantly clad girl pictures on Mania like there is for other BIG days hahaha….
Carwin is one of my favorite fighters and whomever he will meet i believe he will KO him in the first round, like always
Same here.
I dont like this matchup. I wonder what the odds would be 5 to 1 in favor of carwin. Carwin being the bigger wrestler which usually wins in wrestling matches and having insane ko power will win this fight easily in my opinion. Save Carwin for the winner of Mir and lesnar. And give velasquez a fight he might have a chance to win in being gonzaga.
i think cain is going to take carwin down at will and dry hump him and out muscle him for 3 rounds…i just dont think carwin has the wrestling ability to be able to escape from cain…and he certainly doesnt have the strength to get cain off of him…carwin has about the same ground game as kongo…carwin needs to get into a good wrestling camp and learn to defend the takedown…and get into the gym and work on his strength before hes ready for cain
cain will definantly outstrike carwin…he could have dropped kongo anytime he wanted to…he was just toying with him…
carwin just needs to learn how to finish a fight before hes ready for the big time
Agreed with everything there.
How could you agree with:
‘i just dont think carwin has the wrestling ability to be able to escape from cain’ – He is a three-time All-American wrestler!!
‘carwin needs to get into a good wrestling camp and learn to defend the takedown’ – Double LOL….He got hit with 2 big shots that shattered his nose and was lucky to be standing let alone defend the takedown!
‘cain will definantly outstrike carwin…he could have dropped kongo anytime he wanted to…he was just toying with him…’ – Im callin bullshit on that one…I guess he was just hitting him had enough not to knock him out as well then!!
‘carwin just needs to learn how to finish a fight before hes ready for the big time’ – Carwin has finished all his fights in the first round brutally so WTF!
I agree with absolutely NOTHING you said. If this isn’t sarcasm your posting rights should be revoked.
*hitting him hard enough not to knock him out
carwin does no how to finish fights he has finished every single fight hes been in
Well….it was only a matter of time.
true
He could have dropped Kongo anytime he wanted?? What fight were you watching? Cain apparently hits like a welterweight in the HW class. He dominated Kongo on the ground but his power is suspect BIG TIME.
Hellahectic do u know carwin backround is wrestling and u are comparing him to kongo before you try to make a educated statement get a clue.
It wasn’t inevitable this time, but…possible.
desperus did u not see the kongo/herring fight? kongo is a beast on the ground, his transitions are unbelievable..hes like a hw nate diaz…he only lost to herring because of herring’s experience…and he would have beat cain if it was a 5 round fight, he just ran out of time…but he was about to make his move in the 3rd..
cain is just too strong for carwin…carwin just doesnt have the capabilities to change the course of a fight in the blink of an eye the way cain does…
Carwin is going to suprise you guy’s. Carwin proabaly has the most lethal hands in MMA. Gonzoga has a good ground game and couldn’t keep the beat down. This fight should be close but Carwin will catch him in round two and this will be his first fight for him past round one. Another atvantage he has is Jackson is his corner man so you know he’s training on the ground is going to top notch.
Hellahectic… the most uneducated comment ever… Kongo has NO i mean NO ground game.. hearing is scrappy and a vet but not a very skilled grapler and he beat kongo on the ground.
You do know that carwin was a NCAA Wrestling Heavyweight National Champion… kongo never wrestled in his life!
cain could have dropped kongo anytime he wanted?? Seriously dude come on, he got rocked everytime he stood with kongo!
cain needs to learn how to finish fights?? im starting to think you dont know you shane carwin is…
Im picking carwin over cain right now… Cain wont be able to manhandle carwin and he will probably get tko’d
HEllahectic are u serious? Carwin has finished all of his opponents in the first 2 minutes. Kongo got dominated by carmello morrero and herring got dominate by jake obrien. Kongo has good ground and pound herring ground game is ok.Kongo ground game beside ground and pound is pathetic.
wat?
man u guys are fun