"The first thing, and this is something I've shared with my wife and family, is my love for the sport. This is what I love to do, and it's something I'm very passionate about. I'm chasing my dream. I'll see my surgeon, and I think it's 100 percent, most likely, that I'll be cleared. What's going on right now is the nerves in my legs are regenerating from the surgery I had in my mid-back. It was the T-10 through T-11. A bulging disc, ruptured disc, compressed spinal cord. It's tough to come back from, but I'm excited, and the surgeon has been very positive. One of my concerns is, how is this gonna affect me when I'm 65? Am I still gonna be able to be healthy and move around? He said, with 100 percent assurance, that I'll be fine. If the doctor said it was a definite risk to my health, yeah, I have a family. I have two kids. I have a loving wife at home, and that's the most important thing to me is my family."
-- Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight Shane Carwin has been on the shelf since June 2011, when he lost to (now) current UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos at UFC 131 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Since then, Carwin has had to undergo multiple surgeries, extended rehabilitation periods and has gone back and forth several times regarding the time table for his Octagon return. During an interview with HDNet's "Inside MMA," Carwin revealed that he will be meeting with his surgeon soon to talk about his return to mixed martial arts (MMA). But after such a long layoff, what can fans expect from the man who once held the UFC Heavyweight interim belt? Will he still be able to do the things that he was once capable of in the cage? And if he does return this year, who do you Maniacs want to see him square off against?
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