If there’s one advantage Shane Carwin holds over Brock Lesnar entering tonight’s UFC 116, it’s job security. Regardless of what happens in the Octagon at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the 6-foot-4, 265-pound Carwin will return to work in Greeley next week — likely a little sore and nicked — as a mechanical engineer for the North Weld County Water District.
“I’m fortunate enough to do the two things I love,” said Carwin, who requested vacation time this week to prepare for the match. “I’m blessed to be able to do something academically that I enjoy and athletically that I enjoy.”
The scheduled five-round, 25-minute fight is sold out at the 16,000-seat arena. The pay-per-view event is expected to attract more than one million buys. It was postponed from last November when Lesnar, the UFC heavyweight champion at the time, pulled out due to illness.
“We know that he has some wrestling in his background and has the potential to knock people out,” said Lesnar, a four-time All-America wrestler.
Lesnar did his homework. Carwin, a Greeley West High School alumnus, graduated in 1999 from Western State College with a bachelor’s degree in environmental technology. He was a two-time All-America wrestler at Western. He earned a degree from Colorado School of Mines in 2004 in mechanical engineering.
Carwin, 35, helped his high school wrestling coach, Ron Waterman, train in between semesters every summer. Coming off an NCAA Division II heavyweight national championship his senior year, Carwin was notified by Waterman about an opening in the World Extreme Cagefighting. The 24-year-old accepted the offer and has been fighting ever since.
“The first time I worked with him I knew he had the potential to be a great fighter,” said Waterman, who was Lesnar’s tag-team partner in the WWE. “When you get hit by Shane, it rattles my cage. It only takes one punch.”
Carwin has prepared for his big moment with an intense training regimen the past several years. During his lunch break, he doesn’t surf the Web. He takes a short drive over to the gym at the University of Northern Colorado to do cardio-and-strength training.
On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings, he drives to Denver to spar with his pro team, Jackson Submission Fighting. After work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, he drives to Denver to train at the Grudge Training Center, where he fine-tunes his boxing, wrestling and jiu-jitsu moves. The routine is a grind, but one he’s become used to.
“It’s been my life the past five or six years,” said Carwin, a father of two. “I pretty much work and train and I’m with the family. That’s all I have time for.”
Carwin said his success wouldn’t be possible without the support of his wife, Lani, who will be in attendance tonight for the biggest fight of her husband’s career.
Carwin argues against the popular belief that this fight overshadows all his others.
“No, it is the same,” Carwin said in comparing it to his previous 12 matches. “When you get to the UFC, everybody is dangerous and a very tough opponent. I approach them all the same.”
That type of strategy has led to a 12-0 record, including seven knockouts and five submissions, all in the first round. His average match has lasted just 1 minute, 8 seconds.
“I’m going in there prepared for a five-round war,” said Carwin, who predicted on ESPN this week he would get his eighth career knockout. “If I could get that knockout, that would be great.”
Tonight is Lesnar’s comeback, his first fight in almost a year. He battled diverticulitis — a malady in which inflamed pouches called diverticula form on the colon’s wall — in November. A fulltime fighter, he had to surrender his title belt due to inaction, with Carwin the interim heavyweight champion entering the fight.
Nevertheless, Lesnar is the big draw. According to , Lesnar will make $400,000 tonight, win or lose, and Carwin will get $40,000 for participating, and $80,000 if he wins.
“If he wins, he’ll probably celebrate for 30 seconds and then he’ll be back to Shane,” Waterman said.
If he loses, well, he’ll be back to work next week.
“I live a great life,” Carwin said.
Shemar Woods: 303-954-1609 or swoods@denverpost.com
About Shane Carwin
Born: Jan. 4, 1975
Height: 6-feet-4
Weight: 265 pounds
Association: Jackson’s Submission Fighting
Hometown: Greeley
Home gym: Grudge City Training (Denver)
Record: 12-0-0 (seven KOs, five submissions)
UFC 116: At MGM Grand, Las Vegas; pay per view only, $45; undercard starts at 8 p.m.
