Alongside Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez, Shane Carwin has been hyped as part of the new “holy trinity” of heavyweight fighters that promises to turn UFC’s heavyweight division into one of its most competitive and entertaining.
Velasquez recently proved he was the real deal against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Dos Santos has compiled an impressive list of victims in his own right.
But Carwin’s challenge at Saturday’s UFC 111 was even more significant in that he was competing against a recharged Frank Mir for the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship. Hyped as the strongest heavyweight outside of Brock Lesnar, Carwin was fighting for the chance to unify the belts with Heavyweight Champion Lesnar.
And he was doing it against one of the most technically-savvy heavyweights in the world–also a man who recently fell in love with weightlifting as a way to stay physically competitive against the larger heavyweights.
Would Carwin prove he was worth the hype? Or would Frank Mir win the chance to battle Brock Lesnar for a third time?
Shane Carwin defeated Frank Mir via KO (punches) at 3:48 of Round One
*Carwin simply berated Mir with powerful, short-distance punches, using his power to turn the clinch into an infinitely threatening position. Carwin did not have the wrestling to absolutely dominate Mir from a leverage perspective, but he absolutely had the power to make Mir regret not shooting for an immediate takedown.