In Brock Lesnar, UFC Has a Pay-Per-View Powerhouse

Filed under: UFCTo establish himself as the undisputed heavyweight champion of mixed martial arts, Brock Lesnar still has to beat Shane Carwin Saturday night at UFC 116. But there’s no question that Lesnar — just five fights into his MMA career — is …

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Brock LesnarTo establish himself as the undisputed heavyweight champion of mixed martial arts, Brock Lesnar still has to beat Shane Carwin Saturday night at UFC 116. But there’s no question that Lesnar — just five fights into his MMA career — is already the undisputed champion of pay-per-view.

Lesnar isn’t just the biggest pay-per-view draw in the UFC, he’s by far the biggest pay-per-view draw MMA has ever had. When the UFC brought Lesnar on board two and a half years ago it added an outsized personality, a legitimate athlete who won an NCAA heavyweight wrestling title, a ferocious competitor with the drive and determination to become the best fighter in the sport, and a celebrity who had already become a proven pay-per-view draw in pro wrestling — all in one enormous 265-pound package.

Brendan Schaub Says He’s Ready for Primetime, Chris Tuchscherer

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse ExclusiveLAS VEGAS — Brendan Schaub’s name did not appear anywhere on the UFC’s official schedule, but that didn’t stop the Colorado native from making an appearance at the open workouts at the MGM Grand Conference Center Ma…

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LAS VEGAS — Brendan Schaub‘s name did not appear anywhere on the UFC’s official schedule, but that didn’t stop the Colorado native from making an appearance at the open workouts at the MGM Grand Conference Center Marquee Ballroom.

While Schaub was there mainly in support of teammate and main event participant Shane Carwin, in a way, it also symbolized his hope to be considered among the sport’s top-level heavyweights following his UFC 116 match against Chris Tuchscherer.

“I expect to be on the main card after this,” Schaub (5-1) told MMA Fighting. “It’s an honor to be on the Spike prelims, but after this, I expect big-name opponents. I think this will separate me from the rest of the up-and-comers. I think I showed what I do to up-and-comers like Chase Gormley and the guys on the [Ultimate Fighter] show, so I think from here it’s going to be some pretty big-name UFC vets for me.”

Brock Lesnar Relaxed for Comeback Despite Major Strategy Shift

Filed under: UFC, NewsLAS VEGAS — With so much focus on Brock Lesnar’s return from illness as the main storyline for UFC 116, it’s been easy to miss some of the fight-oriented details of his upcoming title unification bout with interim champion Shane …

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LAS VEGAS — With so much focus on Brock Lesnar‘s return from illness as the main storyline for UFC 116, it’s been easy to miss some of the fight-oriented details of his upcoming title unification bout with interim champion Shane Carwin.

Yet in all the words that have escaped the mouths of those who’ve spoken about Lesnar in the last few days, few will have as much impact on Saturday night as a quick revelation that some might have missed if they weren’t fully attentive to his words. Despite the long layoff, Lesnar is essentially re-inventing himself for the biggest fight of his life, admitting to reporters that he’ll be taking the risk of competing in a brand-new stance.

“I brought in Peter Welch, and we changed my stance and switched it from traditional to southpaw,” he said. “It’s really worked out, helped on wrestling and shooting. We changed a lot of things and we’ll see if they work I guess.”

Gambling Addiction Enabler: UFC 116 Edition

Well, we’ve got a big UFC event coming up this weekend, which means you should all head over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com (or apps.facebook.com/fightpicker) and make your predictions for UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin. Congrats to FightPicker Grandmaste…

UFC 116 Lesnar Carwin poster

Well, we’ve got a big UFC event coming up this weekend, which means you should all head over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com (or apps.facebook.com/fightpicker) and make your predictions for UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin. Congrats to FightPicker Grandmaster Aaron Rampey for becoming the first player to crack the 10,000 chip mark. Well done, buddy. That’s gonna look awesome on your CV.

Of course, if you had some balls you’d bet actual money on the fights, and not silly-ass "PotatoChips." As usual, we’d like to help you win some cash for Saturday’s event — or at the very least not take heavy losses. Betting lines are below, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com; if you don’t know what this stuff means, read this first.

MAIN CARD
Brock Lesnar (-130) vs. Shane Carwin (+140)
Yoshihiro Akiyama (-200) vs. Chris Leben (+185)
Chris Lytle (-195) vs. Matt Brown (+160)
Krzysztof Soszynski (-218) vs. Stephan Bonnar (+195)
George Sotiropoulos (-195) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (+160)

SPIKE TV PRELIMS
Brendan Schaub (-295) vs. Chris Tuchscherer (+264)
Ricardo Romero (-145) vs. Seth Petruzelli (+120)

PRELIMINARY CARD
Goran Reljic (-155) vs. Kendall Grove (+145)
Gerald Harris (-245) vs. Dave Branch (+200)
Daniel Roberts (-170) vs. Forrest Petz (+145)
Karlos Vemola (-160) vs. Jon Madsen (+150)

Read on to get that paper…

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Wednesday Morning Link Club: Yep, This Is Really Happening

(Props: UFC.com/JamesToney)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…
– Was Fedor Another Victim of EA’s Cover Curse? (MiddleEasy)

James Toney
(Props: UFC.com/JamesToney)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

– Was Fedor Another Victim of EA’s Cover Curse? (MiddleEasy)

– Shane Carwin: ‘One of Us Will Need Help Leaving the Octagon’ at UFC 116 (MMA Fighting)

– Spike To Telecast Weigh-Ins For UFC 116 Lesnar-Carwin (Watch Kalib Run)

– George Sotiropoulos Will Fight Anyone (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Three Strikes and You’re Out: How Groin Shots Are Changing the Outcome of Fights (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Photo Gallery: M-1/Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum (FightMagazine)

– Fedor Emelianenko’s Career in 69 Seconds (MMA Scraps)

UFC 116 Video Round-Up: Lesnar Says Carwin Poses No Threat to Him; UFC Fighters Weigh In On Main Event

(Video courtesy YouTube/Zuffa)
Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin have really stepped up the trash talk in the week leading up to their heavyweight title clash Saturday night at UFC 116.
Prior to this point, Lesnar has been uncharacteristically sedate…

(Video courtesy YouTube/Zuffa)

Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin have really stepped up the trash talk in the week leading up to their heavyweight title clash Saturday night at UFC 116.

Prior to this point, Lesnar has been uncharacteristically sedate in his pre-fight posturing and seemed almost respectful towards Carwin during a conference call two weeks ago.

Well, apparently Brock got the itch to flip the script and went "WWE" on Shane in the above video.

"I feel no threat by him whatsoever. I don’t feel any threats by anybody."

Considering Carwin has yet to be defeated and has never fought outside of round one in any of his bouts, he may want to consider him a threat.

Cognizant that Lesnar is likely speaking out of his ass, Carwin calls him on the remark as well.

"Brock can talk all the garbage he wants for this fight. When they close that cage and I see Brock across from me, I want to tear him apart."

I know one thing: Somebody is getting hurt in this one.

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