UFC 116 Conference Call Live Blog

Heavy.com has a running live blog of today’s UFC 116 conference call with Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin. Stay tuned to this page and refresh for constant updates.

12:58pm: We’re waiting for the conference call to start. UFC calls typically begin on time, so I’m setting the over/under at 5 minutes late for this one. Strikeforce BARELY beat the number (15 minutes) with their Fedor call last week.

1:06: If you took the over, give yourself a pat on the back. I don’t think it’ll be too much longer, although they are dealing with Brock Lesnar, and when you’re dealing with Brock Lesnar there’s always a chance that you have to find him in the forest before you can get him to do anything.

1:13: This is nearing Strikeforce levels for tardiness. They’re still “admitting additional participants,” which is code for “we can’t find Brock or Shane.”

1:14: Here we go.

1:16: Shane says he’s not turning media down, he just wants media to go through the UFC and not call him directly. He wants to focus on training.

1:21: Brock says he didn’t even know Fedor is fighting this Saturday.

1:17: Brock says he has no animosity towards Shane, but he’s just another opponent that he has to go through.

1:19: Brock has been training since January, ever since he got the go-ahead from the Mayo Clinic. He waited until the very last minute before pulling out of the original fight in October. He didn’t know if he was ever going to fight again, so this has brought a lot of life into him and his training camp. He says the setback was a good thing because it allowed him to sit back and focus on his diet and the way he trains. He has a new strength coach and a new boxing coach.

1:21: Brock lost 42 pounds in the hospital. He realized that there is nothing more important than his family, and said he found out who his friends really were. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to fight again because he’d lost so much weight and thought he was going to have to have surgery. Says he feels like a cat with nine lives.

1:23: Brock changed coaches in his camp because he wanted to evolve and get better.

1:24: Shane says he has a lot of areas in his game where he’s barely scratching the surface and believes he can become a much better fighter.

1:26: Brock says his camp is full of big guys, so preparing for another big man isn’t a problem. He says Shane is better looking than he is, but that’s about it.

1:27: Brock loves the Octagon because it’s one of the few places in the world where you can go in and lay it all on the line. Says he’s very humbled that he’s been given a second chance at life and at the fight game.

1:28: Brock talks about Dave Batista. He says “get in line. Everybody and their dog wants to be a fighter. Next question. We’re talking about the World Heavyweight Championship, not some wannabe.”

1:29: Carwin denies that Randy Couture brought him in to prepare for the Lesnar fight.

1:30: Brock says Randy is a once in a lifetime fighter and there’s nobody else like him. Says he learned a lot from Randy last week, a lot of the tricks of the trade that he hadn’t picked up from anyone else.

1:32: Brock says it’s hard to say what he would have chosen (WWE or UFC) if the UFC had been as popular when he came out of college as it is today. He’s happy with his life and happy with his choices and doesn’t want to live in the past.

1:33: I’ve heard Brock laugh more on this single phone call than I have at any point else in my time covering this business.

1:33: Shane says that if he touches anybody with his gloves, he can knock them out. Brock said the fight could go anywhere and believes it’s going to be exciting no matter where it ends up because both guys have a lot of power and explosiveness. He says Shane poses some different threats than what he’s faced in the past, but he’s evolving as a fighter every single day.