Heavy.com has learned that, contrary to recent reports, Shane Carwin did not recently undergo knee surgery. We spoke with sources close to Carwin’s camp, who indicated that the number-one contender for the heavyweight title is simply rehabbing his knee and did not undergo any surgical procedures.
Recently published reports indicated that Carwin had undergone knee surgery to fix an ailing knee while waiting for Brock Lesnar to recuperate from his bout with mononucleosis. Carwin did undergo an MRI, which came back as a grade II MCL strain. Carwin was told not to do any grappling for three weeks, which made him unavailable for UFC 108. He is available to fight on any card after UFC 108, but with Brock Lesnar out for an unknown amount of time, Carwin remains in limbo.
It’s almost a lock that the company will be forced to create an interim championship because of Lesnar’s condition (or strip Lesnar of the title completely if he’s going to be on the shelf for more than a year). Carwin would be in the picture for that interim championship, most likely against Cain Velasquez. Velasquez was scheduled to face Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 108, but was removed from the card when Nogueira pulled out due to a serious staph infection.