Brock Lesnar proved he was a true UFC champion in 2010, at the expense of his devastated opponent at UFC 116.
The former WWE Champion shocked everyone when he made the jump from professional wrestling to MMA, dominating the octagon with ease.
Brock Lesnar knocked out Randy Couture in his fourth fight to become the UFC Heavyweight champion, something that people would have found inconceivable when he lost his debut.
His title reign was spoiled somewhat by Lesnar’s life-threatening diverticulitis diagnosis, which limited him to just one fight in 2009 as he came close to death in a hospital bed.
He recovered enough to face Shane Carwin at UFC 166, where the interim champion made one big mistake that cost him the world title against “The Beast Incarnate”.
- READ MORE – Shane Carwin was brutalized by a UFC legend after replacing Brock Lesnar on short notice
Shane Carwin made one fatal mistake when trying to beat Brock Lesnar
Shane Carwin had a plan to beat Lesnar during their title unification fight at UFC 166, which all went wrong once the bell to end the first round sounded.
The hard-hitting Carwin won the interim title while Lesnar was out with his illness, and tried to finish the former WWE Champion early when he got his shot at “The Beast” in the octagon.
He pummeled Lesnar with everything he had, chasing him around the octagon before bloodying him with some of the most brutal fists you’ll ever see.
However, the resilient Lesnar managed to take everything Carwin had. Carwin gave everything he had in the first round, leaving him easy to take down and choke out to win the fight in the second.
Going too hard too early was Carwin’s mistake, as he admitted in an interview following the defeat to Lesnar.
Carwin told SiriusXM that he was “waiting for him to die” in the first round, going all in and having nothing left to give in the second round.
He said: “My body just started shutting down. I was pretty much just waiting for him to die, and he wouldn’t die on me.
“So, you know, I exerted, I think, all my energy and everything into trying to finish him in the first round.
“I just remember my body slowing down, and I think it was just, you know, trying to catch oxygen. I went back to my corner and I told my coach, I said, ‘Yeah, I ain’t got any legs.’
“Of course, he did his job trying to pump me up, but there’s no bullshitting when you’re sitting there and you know what’s going on.”
Lesnar overcame near-death in the year before this fight, which gave him the grit and determination to overcome a brutal beating in the first round to win this incredible UFC fight.
Brock Lesnar lost his next two fights before leaving UFC for five years
The win over Carwin was Lesnar’s most impressive and inspiring, but it would sadly be his final taste of victory in the octagon.
The former WWE Champion suffered a first-round knockout to Cain Velasquez just months after the Carwin victory, ending his reign as the UFC Heavyweight champion.
Lesnar followed it up with a defeat to Alistair Overeem the following year, where a strong kick to the stomach emphasized Lesnar’s diverticulitis troubles and saw him make the decision to retire from MMA.
His initial run in the UFC lasted just three years and over seven fights, yet Lesnar remains one of the biggest draws the promotion has had in the heavyweight division.
Lesnar did win his comeback fight at UFC 200 in 2016, but his win was changed to a no contest after he tested positive for clomiphene after beating Mark Hunt.