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Brock Lesnar defends his heavyweight title against Shane Carwin in the main event at UFC 116 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 3.

Former professional wrestling standout Brock Lesnar (4-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) has only five MMA fights to his resume. He captured the heavyweight title with a win over Randy Couture at UFC 91 and then defended his title against the only fighter to beat him Frank Mir at UFC 100. He hasn’t fought in a year due to a serious case of diverticulitis that threatened his career.
Lesnar is an extremely powerful striker. He throws heavy punches that are hard to defend against. His most recent victories have come by TKO and only once has he gone a full three rounds. It will be interesting to see how his conditioning holds up if the fight stretches out after missing time to recover from surgery.

Shane Carwin (12-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) won the interim heavyweight title with a victory over Frank Mir. Carwin started with a wrestling background, but is also training in boxing and brazilian jiu jitsu. Many of his early fights were won by submission, but he has been demonstrating his knockout power of late. He has dispatched every opponent that he has faced in the first round.

Both fighters are more comfortable staying on their feet. Lesnar might have a slight edge in the striking department, while Carwin has the edge on the mat, but Lesnar has the ability to make Carwin pay if he makes any mistakes on the mat. Lesnar’s speed will also be a big factor and it will be interesting to see how Carwin deals with it.