"It gets a little harder to come back from injuries and surgeries as you get older," he says. "I still want to jump back in there like a 22-year-old."
The good part about the first loss of his career is that it forced Carwin to change some aspects of his training. Instead of trying to blow himself up into a 280-pound beast with the help of creatine and power-lifting, he hired Grudge Training Center nutritionist Josh Ford and slimmed back down to the 250's. That's where he feels better, he says, and where he'll stay if he can "stay away from the chips."
The loss to Lesnar? Sure, it still stings. It stung even worse to watch Cain Velasquez beat him, not only because the new champ avoided making the same mistakes Carwin did when he had Lesnar hurt, but also because it dashed Carwin's hopes of one day taking the belt from Lesnar in a rematch.
"You live and you learn," Carwin says. "If I get somebody in that situation again, I'll probably pick my shots better. I never disagreed with [referee] Josh [Rosenthal]'s decision not to stop it. Brock came back and beat me, so how can you argue with that? But it was all I'd ever known from my previous fights. That's how my fights ended, was me on top of the guy raining punches down."
Luke Thomas comments at SBNation:The good part about the first loss of his career is that it forced Carwin to change some aspects of his training. Instead of trying to blow himself up into a 280-pound beast with the help of creatine and power-lifting, he hired Grudge Training Center nutritionist Josh Ford and slimmed back down to the 250's. That's where he feels better, he says, and where he'll stay if he can "stay away from the chips."
The loss to Lesnar? Sure, it still stings. It stung even worse to watch Cain Velasquez beat him, not only because the new champ avoided making the same mistakes Carwin did when he had Lesnar hurt, but also because it dashed Carwin's hopes of one day taking the belt from Lesnar in a rematch.
"You live and you learn," Carwin says. "If I get somebody in that situation again, I'll probably pick my shots better. I never disagreed with [referee] Josh [Rosenthal]'s decision not to stop it. Brock came back and beat me, so how can you argue with that? But it was all I'd ever known from my previous fights. That's how my fights ended, was me on top of the guy raining punches down."
...it's been almost a year since he competed. He's got to be at the end or already past his athletic prime. His body, as he readily admits, is in need of much more attentiveness and repair than it once was. On the one hand, Carwin's previous opponent in Jon Olav Einemo was a perfect "tune up" in that he was a serious challenge, but also a very winnable fight on the comeback trail from inactivity. The dos Santos fight, while certainly winnable, is significantly more difficult as few would argue even with stylistic considerations that Einemo is a stiffer challenge.
On the other hand, the clock is ticking for Carwin, and ticking loudly. This opportunity is an excellent chance for Carwin to put his career on the fast track. However, if the opportunity goes sour, it's fair to surmise Carwin's chances of reclaiming the title, a title shot or even a number-one contender's match drop dramatically. A loss to Einemo would've done the same thing, so a loss to dos Santos is actually a better loss to have.
But the point is that the stakes for Carwin have been raised without him having the opportunity to get his feet back under him. Fighters coming back from surgery on long layoffs often need a fight or two to get themselves going. That's fine if you're Anthony Pettis and 23 years old. That's significantly more problematic for Carwin at 36.
Carwin will have a number of hurdles to clear against dos Santos, but none greater than the combination of cage rust and recovery. On the other hand, the clock is ticking for Carwin, and ticking loudly. This opportunity is an excellent chance for Carwin to put his career on the fast track. However, if the opportunity goes sour, it's fair to surmise Carwin's chances of reclaiming the title, a title shot or even a number-one contender's match drop dramatically. A loss to Einemo would've done the same thing, so a loss to dos Santos is actually a better loss to have.
But the point is that the stakes for Carwin have been raised without him having the opportunity to get his feet back under him. Fighters coming back from surgery on long layoffs often need a fight or two to get themselves going. That's fine if you're Anthony Pettis and 23 years old. That's significantly more problematic for Carwin at 36.
