THE CANADIAN PRESS
Heavyweight Shane Carwin says he paid the price for his early onslaught against heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar at UFC 116 last Saturday.
Carwin pounded away at Lesnar in the first round, almost forcing a referee stoppage. But Lesnar somehow survived the five-minute round.
“In between rounds I could not move my legs and had what felt like a whole body cramp,” Carwin said on his website. “My cardio was fine but my body was not. What can you do? You have to stand up and face your opponent.
“Heading into the second I knew I need to finish the fight or I was going to be in trouble. . . . I had zero takedown defence as my legs were dead to me and the rest is as they say history.”
Carwin, who was taken down and choked out two minutes 19 seconds into the second round, elaborated via Twitter on Wednesday.
“What happened to me July 3rd is called ‘lactic acidosis.’ It was brought on by a few things and mainly not breathing while exerting energy.”
Carwin went to hospital in Las Vegas after the fight, but said it was just precautionary. And he stressed that he was not making excuses.
“Let me be clear Brock won the fight, no issues with that he earned the right to be the champion,” he tweeted. “Just passing on the info as it comes 2 me.”
He was also complimentary to the champion on his website,
www.shane-carwin.com/.
“Brock was a good guy through this entire fight. He did not talk a bunch of smack and he fought like a warrior. He did what he needed to do to keep his belt and that is what being a champion is all about. I am going to have to claw my way back to the top but I wouldn’t want it any other way. I know I belong with the very best; all I need to do is prove it again.
“Losing is what happens on the way to winning. I will be back and better from the lessons learned in this fight.”
He added on Twitter: “Standing at the base of the mountain and looking forward to the climb back up. I tasted greatness and I’m in pursuit of it once again.”
NOTES — Light-heavyweight Seth (The Silverback) Petruzelli was foiled in his attempt to spice up his part of the weigh-in for UFC 116. “Ok guys for reasons I don’t know they wouldn’t let me onstage with my little person!,” tweeted the Florida fighter, who started strongly before losing to Ricardo Romero. Added Petruzelli: “Thank u all for encouragement, I feel better knowing I broke his jaw, tore his peck + his knee.” … Former UFC heavyweight Tim (The Thrashing Machine) Hague takes on Zak Jensen in Friday night’s Aggression MMA card in Edmonton. Andrew Buckland meets Ryan McGillivray in the co-main event … The UFC 113 DVD, featuring the Montreal rematch between Lyoto (The Dragon) Machida and Mauricio (Shogun) Rua goes on sale July 13.
