Shane Carwin explains the ups and downs he has gone through coming into this heavyweight title fight against Brock Lesnar. At first, Carwin was scheduled to take on Cain Velasquez at UFC 104 for a spot to take on the UFC champ. Things changed and the UFC announced an immediate title shot for Carwin at UFC 106 and Velasquez would instead take on Ben Rothwell. The bout between Carwin and Lesnar has been pushed for January 2nd, 2010 as part of the UFC 108 event, but Carwin is prepared no matter what day they fight. In his official website, he explains how he never would have thought of pulling out even after battling through a broken nose, a strain of the swine flu and leg pain.
From ShaneCarwin.com:
Everyone from the UPS driver to my boss has asked me how I feel about Brock pulling out of the fight on November the 21st. My initial reaction was disappointment. My heart honestly sank as I thought about my family and friends making the trip, and all the training, preparation and excitement I had for this fight. Last week was the first week that I actually started feeling better from a strain of the swine flu. I had lost over 15 pounds (something I could not afford to loose) and had just pulled some muscles in my leg during training. As 104 approached my manager said, “we should be thankful we are not fighting, from your re-broken nose to the leg, this wasn’t our time”. As I prepared to go to 104, I began slowly realizing what was ahead of me; I needed to be home training and rehabbing, not traveling and missing days of necessary time with my Team. I was due to be fighting for the UFC Heavyweight title. I called Jason back and said you are right, but I can’t go to LA I need to train. I was reminded about my commitments to the fans at Kmart and the Q&A, and I knew I had to go. In LA I was reminded exactly why we do this sport. Fans were all over the place and every interaction was a positive one. While at Kmart I meet a young man who competes in the Special Olympics and he said he looked up to us fighters. I was so taken back by the fact that he put us fighters on a pedestal. Here was this young man who defied incredible odds in life to reach the Olympics and he pushes himself every day to do things you and I take for granted. I was bitching about a flu, my leg (that would heal), and taking time away from training and this young man looks up to me? He gave me his Octagon necklace and I do not think he realized what an impact he made on me. I knew right then that I was going to suck it up and drive on. Edward and the rest of Team Carwin would be the fuel to carry me through the rough times and make sure that come fight night I will be the champion. Edward’s life has been nothing but full of twist and turns of which he has very little choice on what happened to him, his choice is to not let his twist or turns take him off the his path in life. Fighting for the UFC belt is my path and honestly Brock coming down with his illness only gives me more time to be in that much better shape. It is a blessing if you want to know the truth. I would have never pulled out of the fight. I would wheel myself to the cage if it was my choice. I know this is my destiny and I don’t need everything to be perfect I just need my opportunity to show the world what I can do and who I am. So today when my phone rang and it was Kevin Iole from Yahoo sports asking for my comment on Brock pulling out of the fight I was disappointed and in shock. I had just convinced myself to walk through hell to fight this guy and a respected member of the media was asking for a comment. I immediately called my manager who informed me that it was news to him as well but for me to stay calm, don’t talk to anyone and wait for his call. My wife and I were in shock, it was like the opposite of when we got the news that we were fighting for the title. I wanted nothing more then for Kevin to be wrong. 30 minutes go by and Jason calls me back to say he was able to reach the UFC matchmaker and the fight was not happening and that Brock had been ill for “6 weeks”. He informed me that all the UFC executives were in the TUF tryouts and we really needed to sit tight until we could hear from them what the next steps were. As I write this I still do not know what is in store for me in the near future. I have my own training wounds that need to heal, I have teammates preparing for fights and they need my help, and I want to be ready for whatever the UFC brings my way. I am not the star of the show, I really do not have any say in the matter. My job is to be ready when they need me, I will be. I pray that Brock gets better soon and that he and I can put this fight together. The fans want this fight and so do I. So we will just have to wait and see what the UFC has in mind for Team Carwin. As I said I feel blessed to have the extra time to rehab my injuries and recover from the flu. I think that I am blessed to have an amazing team of people helping me and supporting me that it really doesn’t matter about the twist and turns of life because I know I am on the right path. If Edward can so can I. Who can really complain about your dreams being delayed a bit? I am lucky to be fighting for the best fans in the World, I am lucky to have an amazing family and the best coaches and team mates in the game. Thank you to my amazing sponsors like Max Muscle, Warrior Wear and Beaver Buzz Energy for supporting me full time.
-Shane
