Shane Carwin wants UFC rematch with Brock Lesnar

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Retired fighter Shane Carwin has expressed his willingness to come out of retirement to square off with former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in a rematch.

With his current World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) contract due to expire six months from now, there has been speculation that the 37-year-old Lesnar might consider a return to mixed martial arts (MMA).

Under the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) banner, Lesnar had seven bouts over nearly four years, but he saw his professional fighting career interrupted by diverticulitis, a common digestive disease which involves the formation of pouches within the bowel wall.

The former NCAA Division I grappler knocked out Randy Couture to capture the heavyweight title at UFC 91 in November 2008 and successfully defended the belt twice before losing the gold-plated strap to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 in October 2010.

Lesnar had his final promotional match in December 2011, suffering a technical knockout rout to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141.

After announcing his departure from the sport of MMA, Lesnar returned to professional wrestling in April 2012 and inked a lucrative limited-appearance deal with WWE, where he is now reigning as the WWE world heavyweight champion. 

The rumors about Lesnar’s comeback heightened this past February when UFC president Dana White indicated that the 6-foot-3 behemoth expressed his interest in competing once again.

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Close friend and on-screen manager Paul Heyman hopped onto the frenzy in August when he disclosed that Lesnar monitors UFC fight cards regularly and believes that he could beat any opponent in the division.

Although Lesnar’s (5-3) return to the UFC remains conjecture, Carwin (12-2) stressed that he is more than ready to welcome his rival back with open arms.

“I’m all in. All the pain would be worth that,” Carwin said in an interview with FOX Sports.

Both men first crossed paths at UFC 116 in July 2010 when Carwin earned the right to challenge then-titleholder Lesnar after winning the interim belt four months prior.

Carwin nearly finished Lesnar in the first round, clobbering a brutal onslaught of punches for the better part of the opening frame.

However, Lesnar scored a quick takedown early in the second round and managed to fasten an arm-triangle choke to secure a stunning come-from-behind submission victory.

“I basically almost died in that fight. In the second round, anybody could have tripped me and landed on me,” Carwin shared.

Following his disappointing setback to Lesnar, Carwin tasted another loss as he yielded to Junior dos Santos via unanimous decision at UFC 131 in June 2011.

The 39-year-old Carwin decided to hang up the gloves for good in May 2013 after engaging in a back-and-forth battle with injuries.

Despite the urge to avenge the defeat, Carwin is not totally convinced that Lesnar is heading his way back to the world’s premier MMA promotion.

“He’s not coming back. I don’t even know why he would have the desire,” he supposed.

Carwin confided that the level of aptitude in MMA has grown by bounds and added that Lesnar could not have come close to keeping up while plying his trade in WWE.

“He’s not going to improve the part of his game. He needs to improve in that short [amount] of time. The guys these days are too far ahead. You can’t be one-dimensional. This isn’t the early 90’s,” he says. – Rappler.com