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FIVE ROUNDS WITH UFC 116: LESNAR VS. CARWIN

Arguably, UFC 116 was the single best pay-per-view the promotion has put forth this year, if not the past few years. Not only did UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar successfully defend his title, but Chris Leben pulled off one of the biggest upsets in 2010.

Round One: The Champ Has Returned

After nearly being out of the octagon for a full year to battle an illness that nearly took his life, Brock Lesnar returned to the UFC and showed everybody why he is champion. Shane Carwin started off the fight looking like the monster he has been in his previous twelve MMA fights, but while he began the second round on his feet, he ended it on his back. Brock Lesnar showed the mental and physical toughness of a champion, while showing a post fight display of emotion that we haven’t seen out of the champion before. Also interesting to note, commentator Joe Rogan said that Brock Lesnar may have previously been fighting at only have of his potential due to the illness how contracted last year, so just imagine how dangerous a fully healthy Brock Lesnar could be.

Next Round For Brock Lesnar: Cain Velasquez

Next Round For Shane Carwin: Todd Duffee, Mike Russow or the Roy Nelson/Junior Dos Santos loser.

Round Two: Two Weeks = Two Victories

Chris Leben ended the month of June by defeating the previously undefeated Aaron Simpson by knockout at the UFC Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale. Chris Leben then began the month of July by pulling of the potential MMA upset of the year when he tapped out Yoshihiro Akiyama. Chris Leben, in the span of two weeks, went from a gatekeeper in the UFC Middleweight Division to a potential top contender in the UFC Middleweight Division. Yoshihiro Akiyama knew he was taking a huge risk when he fought Chris Leben after Wanderlei Silva dropped out of the fight and unfortunately for Yoshihiro Akiyama, the risk did not garner a reward.

Next Round For Chris Leben: Wanderlei Silva, Kendall Grove or Nate Marquardt

Next Round For Yoshihiro Akiyama: Michael Bisping, Wanderlei Silva or a rematch with Chris Leben.

Round Three: The American Psycho Remains In The Ward

In was widely rumored heading into UFC 116 that a fourth straight loss for Stephan Bonnar could equal his exit from the promotion. However, a knee strike and several strikes later to a prone Krzysztof Soszynski saved the UFC Ultimate Fighter 1 alumni from a pink slip. Stephan Bonnar now reaffirms his position as the gatekeeper in the UFC Light Heavyweight Division, which is a position he will be in for the remainder of his UFC career. As for Krzysztof Soszynski, if he can build his cardio up to a respectable level, he could become a threat in the UFC Light Heavyweight Division.

Next Round For Stephan Bonnar: A rubber match with Krzysztof Soszynski.

Next Round For Krzysztof Soszynski: A rubber match with Stephan Bonnar.

Round Four: Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!

George Sotiropoulos has put an amazing win streak together thus far in the UFC, recently gaining a huge win over Kurt Pellegrino at UFC 116. You put that together with a victory over Joe Stevenson at UFC 110 and that puts George Sotiropoulos near the top of the UFC Lightweight Division. George Sotiropoulos could easily find himself close to garnering a UFC Lightweight Title fight, depending on how the upcoming Frankie Edgar/BJ Penn and Kenny Florian/Gray Maynard fights pan out. As for Kurt Pellegrino, he moves back into his position of UFC Lightweight Division gatekeeper, a position recently held by Sean Sherk and others.

Next Round For George Sotiropoulos: Sean Sherk, Evan Dunham or the Gray Maynard/Kenny Florian winner.

Next Round For Kurt Pellegrino: Joe Stevenson, Evan Dunham or Sam Stout

Round Five: Bitch About The UFC, Get Pushed Down The Card

For those who tuned into the UFC Prelims On Spike TV prior to the UFC 116 pay-per-view, there was a notable fight missing, Kendall Grove vs. Goran Reljic. This fight was originally set to headline the UFC Prelims On Spike TV portion of the card, but comments made by Kendall Grove against both Spike TV and the UFC caused the UFC to put the Kendall Grove fight on the unaired portion of the card. As luck would have it though, the fight between Kendall Grove and Goran Reljic would be aired on the UFC 116 pay-per-view following the main event. As for the fights that did air on Spike TV, Ricardo Romero defeated Seth Petruzelli and Brendan Schaub defeated Chris Tuchscherer.

Next Round For Kendall Grove: Alessio Sakara, Yushin Okami or Chris Leben

Next Round For Goran Reljic: Gerald Harris, Dan Miller or Joe Doerkson

You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com

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