Shane Carwin Talks Retirement: I Was Meant To Be A Fighter In The Cage

Shane Carwin had a brief and brutal MMA career, from knocking guys like Gabriel Gonzaga and Frank Mir silly, to taking a nasty beating from Junior dos Santos. Carwin has certainly been there and done it, as far as the UFC is concerned. After capturing the interim belt from Frank Mir at UFC 111, Carwin lost the unification bout by submission to the Champion Brock Lesnar.

The following year Carwin was mauled by a rising Junior dos Santos at UFC 131 and has been out of action ever since. Battling through injury after injury, Carwin finally decided to hang up the gloves this week, and call time on a brief but awesome career. Carwin spoke recently with CNN:

READ MORE:  Video - UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira gets knocked out by 140-pound rapper Lil Tjay

“MMA taught me a lot about myself. I was definitely meant to be a fighter in the cage,” He said. “Don’t get me wrong. I loved the game of football. I still drive by the grass fields in the fall and smell that smell and it brings back memories, but being able to go one-on-one? That’s you. That’s 100 percent you. Anything you do in there is from your heart and mind. I think it’s the truest sport in the world today, as true as a competition can be in finding out who the best man is.”

Carwin called a day on his career at the age of 38, sporting a 12-2 record, all of his victories came in the first round.

READ MORE:  Sam Sulek: Famous Fitness YouTuber

“I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders because it has been a struggle these last two, three, four years being in pain all of the time.”

Carwin’s back problems were well documented, ‘The Engineer’ has ruptured discs in his spine that will take years to recover, even without the additional stress of full-time MMA training. I tip my hat to you Carwin, you were one savage beast. Thanks for the awesome fights! Shane Carwin