Carwin took a three round thrashing from #1 contender Junior dos Santos who will move on up to get a title shot against UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez. Dos Santos was just too fast for Carwin and too skilled. His crisp punching hurt Carwin early and often and by the end dos Santos was even out wrestling a thoroughly beaten Carwin.
Carwin barely survived a brutal first round in which dos Santos dropped him with a punch and whaled on him on the ground. But Referee Herb Dean probably remembered how much time then-champ Brock Lesnar got to absorb punishment on the ground against Carwin at UFC 116 and gave the former #1 contender time to recover.
Carwin was briefly in control of the fight in the second when he hurt dos Santos with a hard left but the tide quickly went out again. From then on it was all dos Santos.
Not that long ago know-nothing MMA pundits like myself were calling for the splitting of the heavyweight division in half because of the seemingly unstoppable rein of 280 behemoths like Carwin and Brock Lesnar. Now a leaner, meaner, younger and faster pair of heayvweights has taken over the division. Carwin and Lesnar have been left looking like spent forces against dos Santos and Velasquez.
But even if his time near the top of the sport has passed him by, the 36 year old Carwin can be proud of his performance. He never quit trying to win the fight and proved that he solved the conditioning problems that cost him a title at UFC 116.
According to a tweet from his manager, Carwin had to miss the post fight press conference due to an emergency room visit.
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3 deep cuts, broken nose and he will need to go to the emergency room for a CT scan. #UFC131 @ShaneCarwin update.less than a minute ago via HootSuite
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