UFC 116 recap: Brock Lesnar submits Shane Carwin to remain champion, Leben upsets Akiyama

By MIKE JOHNSTON

It’s official, Brock Lesnar is the baddest man on the planet. Lesnar defended his UFC heavyweight title in the main event at UFC 116, defeating Shane Carwin by second round submission. Lesnar survived a brutal first round mauling at the hands of Carwin and just getting out of the first round was a victory in itself.

In round one, Lesnar was unable to gain a takedown and Carwin rocked Lesnar with an uppercut, and then unleashed a flurry of devastating punches for the majority of the round. On several occasions referee Josh Rosenthal considered stepping in and stopping the fight, but Lesnar somehow persevered. In the second round, it was clear Carwin punched himself out and was exhausted. Lesnar got Carwin to the ground and locked in a fight-finishing arm triangle at 2:19 of round 2. Lesnar is now unquestionably ranked as the number one heavyweight fighter in the world. Next up for the champ will be number one contender Cain Velasquez.

In the co-main event of the evening, Chris Leben defeated Yoshihiro Akiyama with a come-from-behind submission late in the third round of their crowd-pleasing war. Akiyama and Leben, who took the bout on extremely short notice, spent much of the fight testing each other’s chin with power shots, but neither man would fall. With just 20 seconds remaining in the fight, Leben sunk in a triangle choke that forced the Japanese superstar to tap. The victory was Leben’s second win in just two weeks, an incredible feat. Afterwards, Leben called out fellow slugger Wanderlei Silva and challenged him.

In other action, Chris Lytle submitted Matt Brown in the second round to extend his winning streak to three. George Sotiropoulos defeated Kurt Pellegrino by unanimous decision to move up to contender status in the lightweight division. And, Stephan Bonnar stopped Canadian Krzysztof Soszynski by impressive TKO in the second round of their entertaining, back-and-forth rematch.

Although UFC 116 will surely be remembered for Lesnar’s incredible comeback, the card as a whole was an impressive one. Here are the complete results:

MAIN CARD

- Brock Lesnar def. Shane Carwin via 2^nd round arm-triangle choke.

- Chris Leben def. via 3^rd round triangle choke.

- Chris Lytle def. Matt Brown via 2^nd round straight armbar.

- Stephan Bonnar def. Krzysztof Soszynski via 2^nd round TKO.

- George Sotiropoulos def. Kurt Pellegrino via unanimous decision.

PRELIMINARY CARD

- Brendan Schuab def. Chris Tuchscherer via TKO.

- Ricardo Romero def. Seth Petruzelli via submission.

- Kendall Grove def. Goran Reljic via decision.

- Gerald Harris def. David Branch via KO (slam).

- Daniel Roberts def. Forrest Petz via decision.

- Jon Madsen def. Karlos Vemola via decision.