Written by Scott Swerbinsky

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UFC 116 has come and gone but it will be a card that is remembered for quite some time. I told anyone who would listen it was going to be a great card, and I was right on the money. It was an action packed card that lived up to the hype, highlighted by a main event that you had to see to believe.

What was being billed as the biggest fight in mixed martial arts history ended in a way I never thought could have happened. Brock Lesnar defended his heavyweight title against Shane Carwin. Lesnar came out on top by submission. You read that right, Lesnar made Carwin tap out from an arm triangle choke.

Shane Carwin was seconds from winning the title but punched himself out and simply ran out of gas. He landed a few huge shots that had Lesnar falling and covering up. Carwin pounced in for the kill, cut Lesnar up, but couldn’t finish the show in the first round. With a minute left in round 1, you could see the tank was on empty for Carwin.

At the start of round two, Lesnar looked to have regained his wits and immediately took Carwin down. It was the beginning of the end as Carwin couldn’t move from both exhaustion and having a 265 pound mountain of a man laying on top of him. Lesnar landed some hammer fists and then sunk in a nice arm triangle choke to seal the deal.

Of all the ways for this fight to end, I never would have picked by submission for either fighter. Lesnar showed a ton of heart and Carwin showed a huge hole in his game. Another thing I have been telling people for awhile is that Cain Velasquez is the best heavyweight fighter in the world. He is going to get a chance to prove me right as he is next in line for Lesnar’s title. That’s another fight that I can’t wait for.

This fight card was so good that the UFC handed out extra bonus checks for fight of the night. Normally two fighters are awarded bonuses for that honor, but four guys got a little extra cash for that this time around.

The two fights that stole the show were Stephan Bonnar versus Krzysztof Soszynski along with Chris Leben versus Yoshihiro Akiyama . Both fights were high energy back and forth battles that had the crowd on their feet chanting and screaming.

Chris Leben , who just fought two weeks ago, stepped up and won the biggest fight in his UFC career. He beat a very game Akiyama with a beautiful triangle choke in the third round with just 20 seconds remaining.

Stephan Bonnar gained some revenge over Soszynski with a brutal beating and ended it in the second round by TKO. The first round of this one was a toss up but Bonnar looked great in the second and pounded out the win.

Knockout of the night went to Gerald Harris. The fight ended in the third round when Harris brutually slammed David Branch to the canvas and put his lights out. It was a huge power display by the former Cleveland State wrestling star. It was one of the better knockouts I have seen in awhile. The fight was very uneventful until Harris rammed his head and back down with all of his mite.

Full results:

• Champ Brock Lesnar def. interim champ Shane Carwin via submission (arm-triangle choke) - Round 2, 2:19 (becomes unified champ)
• Chris Leben def. Yoshihiro Akiyama via (triangle choke) - Round 3, 4:40
• Chris Lytle def. Matt Brown via submission (armbar) - Round 2, 2:02
• Stephan Bonnar def. Krzysztof Soszynski via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 3:08
• George Sotiropoulos def. Kurt Pellegrino via decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Brendan Schuab def. Chris Tuchscherer via TKO (punches) - Round 1, 1:07
• Ricardo Romero def. Seth Petruzelli via submission (armbar) - Round 2, 3:05
• Kendall Grove def. Goran Reljic via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
• Gerald Harris def. David Branch via knockout (slam) - Round 3, 2:35
• Daniel Roberts def. Forrest Petz via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jon Madsen def. Karlos Vemola via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

 

UFC 116 was easily the best card we have seen so far in 2010. The heavyweight king impressed a lot of people and so did all of the other fights on the card. I hope everyone out there took my advice and tuned in. It was well worth it and hopefully the rest of the events this year will be as entertaining.