| UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | July 3, 2010 | |||
| Venue | MGM Grand Garden Arena | |||
| City | Las Vegas, Nevada | |||
| Total gate | $4,053,990[1] | |||
| Buyrate | 1,160,000[2] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin was amixed martial arts event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship on July 3, 2010, at theMGM Grand Garden Arena inLas Vegas, Nevada.[3] The show was voted as the Best Major Show in the 2010Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards, the first and only time anmixed martial arts and UFC show won the award.
Shane Carwin, who won theInterim Heavyweight Championship by defeatingFrank Mir atUFC 111, faced current heavyweight championBrock Lesnar. The two were originally set to face each other atUFC 106, thenUFC 108, before Carwin won theinterim heavyweight championship, but Lesnar pulled out of the fight both times due to an illness (diverticulitis) that kept him from training.
Cheick Kongo was scheduled to faceRoy Nelson,[4] but a back injury sidelined Kongo.[5] Nelson foughtJunior dos Santos atUFC 117.[6]
Alessio Sakara was set to fightNate Marquardt,[7] but Sakara pulled out of the bout after the death of his father.[8]
Jacob Volkmann was scheduled to fightPaul Kelly as one of the preliminary fights, but Kelly reportedly had to pull out of the July 3 fight due to visa issues.[9] The bout was rescheduled forUFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko the next month.
Also, UFC newcomerRicardo Romero was scheduled to fightSteve Cantwell after Cantwell's recent medical ban ended. However, the fight was cancelled for unknown reasons[10] and Cantwell was replaced by UFC returneeSeth Petruzelli.[11]
On June 17, 2010, Julio Paulino was injured and withdrew from his fight againstDaniel Roberts.Forrest Petz returned to the UFC and replaced Paulino.[12]
On June 22, 2010,Wanderlei Silva had to withdraw from his co-main event fight againstYoshihiro Akiyama due to three broken ribs and an injured right knee. Akiyama was then matched againstChris Leben.[13]
The bout betweenKendall Grove andGoran Reljic was originally slated for the live prelims show on Spike TV. However, it was later demoted and replaced by Seth Petruzelli vs. Ricardo Romero because of Grove's criticism of the Spike TV network andThe Ultimate Fighter television show.[14]
UFC PresidentDana White confirmed that the winner of the heavyweight title fight will defend the title against the undefeatedCain Velasquez.[15]
UFC 116 won Best Major Show in the 2010 Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards.
| Main card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Heavyweight | Brock Lesnar (c) | def. | Shane Carwin (ic) | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 2 | 2:19 | [a] |
| Middleweight | Chris Leben | def. | Yoshihiro Akiyama | Submission (triangle choke) | 3 | 4:40 | |
| Welterweight | Chris Lytle | def. | Matt Brown | Submission (inverted triangle choke and straight armbar) | 2 | 2:02 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Stephan Bonnar | def. | Krzysztof Soszynski | TKO (knee and punches) | 2 | 3:08 | |
| Lightweight | George Sotiropoulos | def. | Kurt Pellegrino | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Televised | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Brendan Schaub | def. | Chris Tuchscherer | TKO (punches) | 1 | 1:07 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Ricardo Romero | def. | Seth Petruzelli | Submission (armbar) | 2 | 3:05 | |
| Preliminary card | |||||||
| Middleweight | Kendall Grove | def. | Goran Reljic | Decision (split) (28–29, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Gerald Harris | def. | David Branch | KO (slam) | 3 | 2:35 | |
| Welterweight | Daniel Roberts | def. | Forrest Petz | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Heavyweight | Jon Madsen | def. | Karlos Vemola | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
The following fighters received $75,000 bonuses.[16]
The following is the reported payout to the fighters as reported to theNevada State Athletic Commission. It does not include sponsor money or "locker room" bonuses often given by the UFC and also do not include the UFC's traditional "fight night" bonuses.[17]
