What a week this has been for MMA fans, but before I forget, happy belated bday to America. I would have done this wrap up way before now but I was hanging out with my fiancee’s family in Indiana, but I’m back now, so lets talk MMA.

Some people are calling UFC 116 one of the greatest cards of all times. We saw insane KOs with Gerald Harris (who I will be writing a small little feature about here soon), amazing submissions, and dramatic victories.

Obviously, the biggest (no pun intended) fight and maybe surprise of the night was Brock Lesnar’s submission victory over Shane Carwin in the second. Lesnar was dominated so much in the first round to the point that I scored the round 10-8 for Carwin. As I mentioned in the video blog this week, if Brock came out of the gate standing he would lose this fight. Well, I was half wrong and half right. He came out standing, but who would have known that Brock’s chin would have been as good as it was. He survived, and I believe that Josh Rosenthal needs to be commended for his reffing skills in this bout, sensing that Lesnar was in fact, intelligently defending himself the whole round. The second round showed exactly how I believed Brock would win the fight, using his dominate wrestling to take Carwin down and control him. What no one saw happening was an impressive display of BJJ as Brock passed to full mount from half guard to sinch in a viscious arm triangle, only to pass again to seal the deal.

Many are quick to criticize Brock’s standup game by saying that he has some tremendous holes in his standup. While I agree that his standup definitely needs work, I don’t think that his holes are gaping. Let’s face it, anyone who takes shots in the way that he did against Shane are going to face similar outcomes, and my guess is that we will see these two fight again in the future.

With that being said, Brock has, without a doubt, cemented himself as the number one heavyweight in the world, no question about it. Next he faces Cain Velasquez, but lets face it, I simply don’t see anyone beating Brock considering the fact that he faced maybe his toughest opponent.

Also, not only should Chris Leben’s tenacity as a fighter be commended for even stepping into the octagon given his circumstances, but the way he performed should be appreciated as well. With that being said, I think he can remain a top 10 middleweight in the UFC, however, I don’t see him beating the top dogs in the division, IE the Wanderleis, Silvas, Sonnens, or Marquardts.

I will have more as this week progresses to wrap up my thoughts from UFC 116 via more articles, and a live video blog on Wednesday morning.

Stay tuned for more.

Featuring UFC 118’s James Toney, and the MMAFighting crew.

Follow us over at www.twitter.com/goodgamebro.

Picks coming tomorrow, stay tuned.

GGB’s HW RANKINGS GOING INTO SATURDAY’S FIGHT

There is no doubt that Saturday’s fight between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin will be the fight that determines the number one heavyweight in the world. Even though I subscribe to the fact that making out your rankings prior to Saturday is somewhat useless, everyone else seems to be putting their two cents in, so here’s mine.

1. Brock Lesnar
2. Junior Dos Santos
3. Fabricio Werdum
4. Fedor Emelienanko
5. Shane Carwin
6. Cain Velasquez
7. Allistair Overeem
8. Frank Mir
9. Antonio Silva
10. Roy Nelson

What are yours?

Just letting everyone know that I will be video blogging at around 10am this Wednesday morning via USTREAM.

We’ll be talking about this past weeks Strikforce event, as well as news and the upcoming UFC: Lesnar vs Carwin card.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2009/12/22/bobby-lashley-the-best-heavyweights-are-in-strikeforce/

This comes from our good friend Ariel Helwani over at MMA Fanhouse, which is now MMA Fighting

Not sure how I personally feel about this statement. Obviously Strikeforce has some decent, and seasoned heavyweights. Their obvious name is in Fedor, and yes they have former UFC champion Andre Arlovski. However, it is difficult to believe such a statement as true when the UFC’s heavyweight roster is the strongest it has ever been. Yes, Strikeforce has some decent up and coming heavyweights in both Lashley, King Mo, and even Brett Rogers, however most recently the MMA community was discussing the lack of depth in the organization for Fedor to fight.

Realistically, not only is the UFC more of a deep heavyweight roster, but some may consider the fact that the UFC has not only more relevant top 10 fighters, but that those fighters are also more closely representative of the MMA up and comers. Fighters such as Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez, Cheick Kongo, Junior Dos Santos, and Brock Lesnar all come to mind.

So often in the MMA community we like to associate the value of an individual fighter with either A.) how many years they have been fighting, B.) who they have fought, and C.) They’re overall history as a fighter. While all are important points to look at, in my opinion, fighter relevance is one of the most overlooked point in MMA.

Yes, Brock Lesnar has only fought enough fights to count on one hand, Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez haven’t fought the biggest names, and yes, Fedor has been alot of the former big names in the heavyweight MMA ranks. However, the issue is looking at what those individuals are accomplishing now. The heavyweights in the UFC are indeed up and comers, however they have their rightful place in various top 10 rankings due to not only their performance as fighters, but also because of their competition in their respective organizations. The best way I can equate it, is to compare it to college football. Think of each weight class as a conference in MMA. If a heavyweight fighter is getting big wins in the UFC, which one might say has a tougher roster to work through, that individual will be ranked higher than someone in an organization that is not as deep in fighter talent. Does this disregard the fighter in the opposing organization? Not at all, in fact, they may be very relevant, however, the opposite, and stronger class in the other organization does hold more weight in the rankings. No pun intended.

As we reported on today’s GoodGame! Radio Episode (which will be available shortly), UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar has been ruled out of his fight with Shane Carwin completely, and has been placed on the injured list almost indefinitely.

Lesnar, who was ruled out of both a UFC 106 bout, and UFC 108 with number one contender Shane Carwin, was said to have been in really bad shape as concluded by UFC president Dana White over the weekend. Initially, it was thought to be mono, however after Saturday night the fighter’s illness was deemed incunclusive.

However, ESPN.com reports that his illness is a bacterial infection in the fighter’s intestinal tract. Though it has been speculated by sites such as TMZ and ESPN, saying that Lesnar may never fight again, neither party has yet to include a direct quote from White or Lesnar.

INTERIM HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

With Lesnar out for a while, one may be able to point to a potential interim belt down the road. With Minotauro Nougeria out of his match with Cain Velasquez, many critics speculate that Velasquez, and number one contender Shane Carwin could meet sometime early next year for the belt.

We’ll definitely be following this closely.