UFC 116: Brocky Balboa makes second round comeback -- with a little help from Josh Rosenthal

Honestly I think Jon McCarthy and Herb Dean would have stopped it.

 In all fights, especially a title fight, you have to give the fighter as many chances as you can. If he is getting pummled with no defense, then ya, stop it; but Brock showed he was still in the fight and tried to defend by kicking Carwin away twice.

You can call it special treatment or what have you, but you have to make the opponent finish the CHAMP in a fight. Its not like it was in the case of the Shogun vs Machida fight, Machida was clearly out, while Brock was still trying to fight. All in all, it was very, very good ref work by Rosenthal.

those of you who will be quick to bash his victory because he got the hell beat out of him before coming back like a true champ, are probably the same haters that will cheer and praise NOG (as you should) without seeing the connection.

free,
Josh, overall, is shit! he did good this time, PROPS!

Big John is the best followed be Herb Dean

We get to talk about good officiating. This is rare.

What is everyones feelings on stopping a fight after a flash knockdown? We’ve seen the fights where the guy gets clipped, goes down, get popped again and recovers but the ref is standing over him calling the fight. Is this worse than letting a guy take 30+ unanswered punches to the face and not stopping the fight? If the concern is damage taken, what causes more?

I understand the point of inteligently defending one self but what would have made Josh stop that fight if Shane didn’t punch himself out like he did? Aside from knocking him out I don’t see that he would have.

This is how they let randy get a beatn b4 they called brock for the tko

And don’t gimme that “its a title fight, gotta finish the champ” bullshit…a fight is a fight..the only difference in a title fight is an extra 2 rounds…all rules are the same for ALL fights…and yes, I despise lesnar, but I do respect that he came back from a beating and pulled out a win…I just don’t think carwin would have been given the same opportunity if their roles were switched

This fight was B.S. Brock was out of the fight right after he went down. If you watch the replays, you will see Brock tapping on Carwin’s chest while he was getting hit with those bombs. I think referee Josh Rosenthal cost Carwin the fight because Brock was not defending himself as a fighter should and took so much more damage in that one round than in all of his fights. I say this not only as a fan but an MMA amateur fighter.

I’ve rewatched round one 4 times since the fight and it appears obvious that Brock was intelligently defending himself while waiting for the onslaught to to weaken, or the round to be over. Give him credit! He’s tough as hell and EARNED that victory! Like he said, if he had uncovered to try anything during the onslaught, more punches would have landed! Then, it probably would have been stopped!

I truly believe Carwin was robbed of the victory. How many times beforehand have the referees stopped fights when someone turtles up in the corner of the cage for more than 10 seconds? Lesnar was down for the entire last half of the first round, getting beaten on, and most of that time his "intelligent defense" was the fetal position. I know the UFC needs a big name. UFC president Dana White can talk all he wants about how no one wants Fedor Emelianenko. However, the UFC’s top two heavyweights, Lesnar and Carwin, with Velasquez being an exception, are extremely one-dimensional fighters whose main ability is to be big at their opponents. White does a lot of trash talk about how he has the best people but when it comes to an incredibly lax non-call by the ref to prove how excellent one of them is, it does not bode well for the sport. If all it takes to win in the UFC and get them to ignore their own rules is a name, then it is a dark day for MMA in the United States.

With Carwin losing his title bid, how long do you think Greg Jackson will retain his status as the elite trainer/game-planner? Georges St. Pierre and Rashad Evans are still top notch, but his other high-profile fighters, such as Nate Marquardt, Keith Jardine (repeatedly), Joe Villasenor and Donald Cerrone have all failed in their latest fights.

 Goldberg and Rogan called Brock Lesnar’s title defense against the relatively unknown Shane Carwin the biggest heavyweight promotion in MMA history. We’ll know next week whether that was true when the pay per view numbers trickle out, but certainly Fedor-Cro Cop and even Sylvia-Couture had significantly more buzz in the community. Goldberg made another claim I think we can dispute right away: he said these were the two best heavyweights in the world. I saw something different. I saw a wildly entertaining fight between two guys who are still nowhere near finished products in the cage. To channel Georges St. Pierre for a moment, while I was entertained, I was “not impressed with their performance.”

We learned a few things about Brock Lesnar tonight. We confirmed what many suspected: Brock Lesnar doesn’t like to get hit. As soon as Carwin touched him, Lesnar did more than cover up. He flat cowered against the cage. He wasn’t hurt as much as terrified. Make no mistake-Carwin had that fight won. Against anyone who isn’t the promotion’s heavyweight champion, that fight gets stopped due to some brutal ground and pound.

Lucky for Lesnar, Carwin isn’t merely a one-round fighter. He doesn’t event have that much in him. Three minutes into the bout and Carwin’s heaving breaths couldn’t feed his mammoth muscles. Lesnar survived, less because of his own defensive prowess and more because Carwin gassed and gassed bad.

We learned a few things about Shane Carwin, too. When the fight went to the second round, Carwin was no longer participating. He looked like he was approaching a heart attack and was like a spectator at his own execution. Lesnar took him to the mat with a sloppy tackle and shortly thereafter finished him with an arm triangle. It was hardly a display of technical prowess. Carwin had either checked out mentally or simply couldn’t summon the energy to defend himself.

As a spectacle, it was amazing. Lesnar’s display of fortitude will become a big part of his legend. But this fight still leaves tons of lingering questions about what kind of fighter Lesnar will become. He looked helpless against Carwin, scared and desperate. His standup game is still rudimentary. He got tagged with everything and landed almost nothing. If he gets hit by Cain Velasquez, one thing is for certain. We know Cain won’t falter, will never quit that prematurely. This is a winnable fight for Cain Velasquez and one I’m looking forward to very much.

During that first knockdown and ground & pound session, if Carwin had actually let Lesnar up, he most likely could have put Brock back on his ass in a matter of a few punches. In fact, it looked like after the first time Brock pushed off, he was trying to employ that strategy but grew impatient and jumped back on him. Had he waited a few more moments, Rosenthal would have definitely forced Brock to get back to his feet and put Brock back at a disadvantage. Knocking down a fresh Lesnar was a feat unto itself, but knocking down a stunned Lesnar would have been much easier and would have pushed Carwin into a TKO win, if not KO.
Carwin is still a young fighter and this was a good lesson for him patience, and he now knows what he has to work on to improve himself. That is what losses do, just as Serra recovered from his loss and put into practice what failed him the first time to do it right the next time it presented itself. I believe if these two fighters met again, Carwin could do the same thing he did to Brock in this meeting in the opening minutes, only next time he should be patient and let Lesnar come to him in a weakened state, instead of exhausting himself on a defending Lesnar and exposing his weaknesses for Lesnar to take advantage of after the reset.

And that cements in my mind that Rosenthal is the best referee. McCarthy, who everyone hails as the best in the business, stopped that fight way too quickly and would have stopped this one too. Carwin would be an undeserved champ and noone would have complained because apparently the “best ref” has set the standard too low.

 The funniest thing is that people say he´s the best HW around when he clearly isn´t.
The guy has zero standup and won because of Carwin not standing the fight up. Just like Fedor.

Congratulations Brock but you don´t impress me one bit.

Some fights are called too early. It has happened time and again. We have all seen it.
Antonio Silva vs Eric Pele was stopped too soon.Ortiz vs Shamrock 2 was stopped too soon.Thompson vs Esch was stopped way too soon.
Tonight however, we had the opposite. We had a referee who obviously had decided he would not call the fight no matter how badly Lesnar was beaten.
Maybe he did it for the crowd. They all wanted to see Lesnar suffer and they were getting all they could ever ask for. Is it possible that something was lost along the way?
For Carwin the heavyweight championship was lost. Unable to maintain the furious pace he had displayed in round one, Carwin was taken down and submitted. Carwin lost because he got tired.
Now we have all seen a million fights that end because of someone gassing. Usually fights like that end in a TKO or KO victory. The difference here is that Carwin didn’t get tired because Lesnar was pressing him or beating him up. No, Carwin got tired because he hit Lesnar with everything in his entire arsenal.
He got tired from beating the stuffing out of Brock Lesnar.
Lets face it – we know the fight should have been stopped in the first round with Carwin as winner by TKO. It was that obvious. In fact it might be said that the crowd that wanted to see Lesnar lose so badly caused the fight to continue resulting in a second round and a loss by Carwin.Ironic is it not?
Whatever the case it is apparent that Brock can be beaten by a good striker. A good striker with ground fighting experience. A seasoned professional like that could easily put an end to Brock.
A professional like Fedor perhaps? He seems to have the exact tool set needed to wipe Brock out. If anything this fight proved that.
Tonight also showed what the sport should not be. The UFC does not help it’s cause if it allows fights to continue when someone is getting destroyed.
The sport is about courage not just damage. Its bad when a fight is called too soon but it is a travesty when it is not called in time. Especially following the third MMA related death just one week ago.

Refs have a damn tough job, and there will be people who dislike certain refs for all time….you stop it 2 early, you suck, you stop it 2 late, you suck and endangered a fighters life….aside from getting that close to the action, I’d want no part of it…oh and the pay, if its substantial, I’d want a part of that…anyone know what these refs make…ballpark figure?

Tuck it in, I can see your bias!

Man, there is a lot of people sore about this.
I didn’t really care about the outcome prior there both solid, but I was impressed with Brock, in attitude and game.

Shrug off your grudges and start a slow clap.

Brock Lesnar: Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact) for right eyelid and left eyebrow lacerations.

Shane Carwin: Suspended 60 days (45 days no contact) for precautionary reasons.

Obviously Brock won. Even the docs know that hahahaha

He and that chick who was the referee of Cyborg vs Finley made a great job and gave us two good fights.

didn’t I already state the fight could of been stopped two or three times in the first round? But all the WWE fan boys said I was foolish for thinking such. Poor, TUFers.

rosenthal didnt do brock any favours. brock was still in the fight the whole way through that beatdown. rosenthal just did what he gets paid for. he was just doing his job thats all. no need to thank him.