Brock Lesnar, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s massive heavyweight titleholder, was forced to withdraw Monday from his highly anticipated Nov. 21 title defense in Las Vegas against Shane Carwin.
UFC president Dana White confirmed the news to Yahoo! Sports. White said Lesnar has been ill for more than three-and-a-half weeks and unable to train. With the bout at UFC 106 less than a month away, Lesnar was forced to postpone the title defense.
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More UFC Videos Other Popular Sports StoriesNew job for disgraced MLB slugger NFL QB spotted eating hot dog on sidelines More From Kevin Iole'Shogun' has no one to blame but himself Oct 25, 2009 Machida retains title in controversial decision Oct 25, 2009 “He said he’s never been this sick in his life,” White said. “He said it’s been going on for a long time and he just hasn’t been able to shake it.”
White said he does not believe Lesnar had the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu.
The fight matched two of the biggest and most powerful heavyweights in the UFC. Lesnar (4-1), a former World Wrestling Entertainment star, was a junior college and NCAA Division I wrestling champion. Carwin is a former Division II national wrestling champion.
Both men weigh around 295 pounds and cut weight to make the heavyweight division’s 265-pound limit.
White said he is not sure when the fight will be rescheduled or if Carwin will still fight on the card.
“We’re still working everything out,” he said.
Carwin (11-0), who made several appearances in Los Angeles on Saturday to promote the fight, was clearly disappointed at getting the news.
“My heart just sank, as you can imagine,” Carwin said. “Hopefully, we’ll get it rescheduled soon.”
The co-feature at UFC 106 is set to be a light heavyweight bout between Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin, both among the company’s most popular fighters. That bout could be moved to main event status if White does not land a suitable opponent for Carwin for that date.
