Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin officially announced for UFC 106

Sam Morris

Brock Lesnar tips the scales 265 pounds for his fight against Frak Mir at the weigh-in for UFC 100.

By Andy Samuelson (contact)

Monday, Sept. 14, 2009 | 7:30 p.m.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship officially announced Monday its main events for UFC 106, set for Nov. 21 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar will defend his title against the undefeated top contender Shane Carwin. Former UFC star Tito Ortiz also makes his return to the organization when he faces UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman.

“Brock Lesnar has been tearing through everyone over the last year,” UFC President Dana White said. “But in Shane Carwin, he’s not only fighting someone as big as he is, he’s fighting someone who has ended all of his fights in less than three minutes. This is literally the biggest heavyweight title fight ever and may also be the most explosive.”

Indeed Carwin, who stands at 6-foot-3, 262-pounds, is the largest opponent Lesnar has faced to date.

“I was extremely excited when I got the news that I was fighting Brock,” said Carwin, who is 11-0 and has never had a fight go past the first round. “I couldn’t even sleep that night.

“This fight is going to be different for both of us. We’re not used to facing someone who equals us in size,” continued Carwin, a former NCAA Division II national wrestling champion and All-American college football player. “I can see this fight taking place everywhere. We both have wrestling backgrounds, but hopefully we’ll get into some exchanges on the feet, too.”

Lesnar — who is 4-1 in his brief MMA career with his only loss coming to Frank Mir — which he avenged at UFC 100 — doesn’t seem to think too much of Carwin’s sparkling resume.

“I’m looking forward to fighting Shane Carwin. He’s undefeated and I’m the man who is going to put an end to that,” Lesnar said.

Ortiz, the longest reigning light heavyweight champ in UFC history, makes his return to the Octagon after a year and a half break. Ortiz vowed to put on a show for UFC fans and win back his 205-pound belt.

“It’s like a homecoming for me,” Ortiz said. “There are a lot of people out there that expect me to succeed and there are a lot of people out there that expect me to fail. But I feel great and I’m expecting to win back my belt.”

Tickets for UFC 106, priced from $100 to $1,000, go on sale Saturday, Sept. 19 at noon Las Vegas time at all local Ticketmaster locations, or by phone at (800) 745-3000 or online at www.UFC.com, www.mandalaybay.com, or www.ticketmaster.com.

UFC Fight Club members and UFC newsletter subscribers have the first opportunity to purchase tickets Thursday, Sept. 17, and Friday, Sept. 18, respectively. UFC 106 will be available live on pay-per-view on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN, BellTV, Shaw Communications and Viewer’s Choice Canada for $44.95.