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In a little over a week, interim UFC heavyweight champion Shane Carwin will step into the Octagon for the biggest fight of his career against division king Brock Lesnar in a title unification bout that headlines UFC 116 on July 3rd.
It’s been a whirlwind ride to say the least for the Colorado KO King thus far, and as you’ll see, he’s had some pretty interesting things to say as we’ve documented his rise up the heavyweight ranks.
On competing (2008)
“Everybody has hobbies in their life, and competing just happens to be mine. It’s something that I love to do and I’m always asking myself if I’m ever gonna grow out of that. I’ve got to grow up someday (Laughs) but I enjoy it and I’ve been blessed with the gifts God has given me and I’ll continue this stuff as long it allows.”
On working and fighting (2008)
“It’s time management, and sometimes it can be tough coming into work the next day after a good, hard sparring session. But things at the office are good, and everybody’s excited there for me, so it helps to have a supportive cast around me, and they’re pretty lenient on me with my time and me making up comp time, so I’m in a real favorable position with the job that I have.”
On his football dreams (2008)
“I was projected to go in the fifth round and it never happened. I ended up being cleared and I wrestled my senior year. Before one of my wrestling matches, I tried out for the (Philadelphia) Eagles. They ended up hooking me up with the (Arena football league’s) New England Sea Wolves, but at the same time I was working a deal with the Colorado School of Mines just to be a grad assistant and go to school there and I opted to get my engineering degree instead.”
On wrestling (2008)
“I would have to say a lot of it is work ethic. You’re in there and you’ve got coaches yelling down your back and wrestling has never been looked at as a glamorous sport. Oftentimes, you never did it for anybody but yourself, but you were always there for your teammates. Wrestling is definitely a very disciplined sport and along with the wrestlers comes a lot of mental toughness. There are also a lot of other good things that come out of wrestling – you know where your body is in space, you know leverage and balance and a lot of other good things that can help you out in MMA.”
Before his UFC debut against Christian Wellisch (2008)
“I’ve trained like I’ve never trained before and this is just a real big opportunity for me and I’m gonna take advantage of every possibility that’s out there for me in this situation. I’m real excited, and to tell you the truth it’s a real dream come true because I said that this is the one place where I wanted to end up if I was gonna continue fighting, and if that didn’t happen, then I would just go on and continue my full-time job. Whoever they put in front of me, I’ll work my way up the ladder however they see it. It’s like they say in wrestling, it’s the first round of the National Championships. I’ll go in there and perform and we’ll move on after that.”
In the locker room before the Wellisch fight (2008)
“We (Trevor Wittman, Nate Marquardt, and Christian Allen) were back there just laughing and joking. We were actually talking about the Revolutionary War and how people had to walk in line. You didn’t want to be on the front lines, seeing that guy in front of you go down. I don’t know how we got on that subject (Laughs), but it was pretty relaxed and that’s usually how we like to keep it. We make sure we’re always having fun but working hard.”
Once the bell rings (2008)
“I just want to go in there and perform, have fun, and I absolutely love the sport and I love to compete. For me to be able to step into the Octagon, it’s a real dream come true and I absorb every second of that. I don’t necessarily expect some spectacular knockout or submission, but that’s obviously what I’m going in there to accomplish just because I’m overly competitive, and things have just turned out that way. I feel like if you work hard and train hard, things are gonna work out for the best in the end.”
“I don’t know how you could train eight or nine hours a day – that seems like an awful lot to me. I know my one-on-ones with Trevor, by the end of them, he’s basically put me through hell in an hour and a half’s time. If I had to go through nine hours of hell with T every day, there just wouldn’t be an end of the week for me.”
On going past the first round (2008)
“I guess that’s a territory that when I get there, we’ll see. But I’ll tell you what, when I’m in the training room, I’m training to go well beyond those three five minute rounds. It’s something I’m comfortable with in the training room, and I feel like I’d be comfortable with it in the ring as well. In fact, I feel that as matches go on, I get stronger.”
On fighting in England against Neil Wain (2008)
“It’s gonna be his backyard and I know that the fans are gonna be behind him. I’ve been in college situations before where I walked in and got booed, so that’ll probably be nothing any different for me. Sometimes that makes you a little bit more hyped up.”
On maturity (2008)
“When I look back at when I was in college, and you’re in between the ages of 18 and 22, I think your outlook on life’s a lot different than when you’re in your 30’s. I have a career going, I have a family, and I’m focused on where my life and my family’s life need to be. When you’re in your 20’s, you’re still trying to find out who you are, and a lot of those guys still want to have a lot of fun.”
On his success (2008)
“You’ve just got to go out there to perform. Anything can happen in any fight, and I truly believe that. All it takes is a split second mistake in this game, and anybody can go down. As long as you realize that and have an open mind for it, you’ll be fine. I don’t know if I’ve surprised myself – I’m an aggressive fighter and I like to get in there and get after it. To me it’s a fight. It’s not a three round decision. That guy’s in there to rip my head off, he’s trained for it, and I’m in there to take him apart and I’ve trained for it, so it’s just about getting after each other, and all of that excites me.”
The Finisher (2010)
“It’s a fight to me and I’m never looking for a decision. When I’m in there it’s game on and I want to get it over with.”
The Competitor (2010)
“I’ve been competitive since I was six. My mom had me in sports and it’s something that I’m very passionate about. It could be a board game or playing the PS3 against my boy (Carwin’s son, Camden), and I’m still competitive against him at those games, and we laugh about it. But to be out there and to compete in the Octagon, there’s no other feeling quite like that. I loved playing football and I loved wrestling, but being in the Octagon, competing in the UFC and going mano a mano, there’s no other feeling like that in the world, and to be able to explain it, you just have to do it.”
On Trash Talk (2010)
“I don’t really concern myself with what those guys are saying and all the talk that’s going on. I’ve always been one to say that you can do all the talking you want; the only time it matters is when you’re in the Octagon and competing. That stuff has never affected me.”
On winning (2010)
“You always rehearse those moments in your mind, and I’m mentally prepared for that. I’ve visualized it and it’s exciting. I’m excited being able to fight and to work on the things that I’ve trained for, and I want to be the fighter in the cage that’s known for devastating knockouts and intense ground and pound. I want to be known as that fighter.”
Jamie Gunns
Heidi Montag
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