One story that emerged on the MMA front this past weekend was that new UFC 131 main eventer, Shane Carwin, is working with Paul Heyman.
For those of you not familiar with Heyman, he was the creator of ECW – Extreme Championship Wrestling, and also spent time in the WCW and WWE. He was the “manager” of Brock Lesnar during his stint in the WWE and has remained a close friend of Lesnar over the years.
Here are some snipits of just what Heyman is doing with Carwin, courtesy of Bloody Elbow.
This is not a deal with UFC, but the production company that does the Countdown special and Spike TV hired Heyman to help with the Countdown show for UFC 131. His role was to help Brock Lesnar promote the fight, and with Lesnar pulling out, they asked him if he’d instead work with Carwin, which he’s doing. It’s not a UFC hire. The idea of Heyman working with UFC in teaching fighters how to promote matches (and how not to) isn’t the world’s worst idea.
I know some MMA fans will probably freak out over this and start to worry that the UFC is working toward pro wrestling, but that is not the case.
What the UFC needs is some better mic men. Not to say a fighter can’t speak with his actions in the octagon, but to sell a fight and a PPV, the UFC needs to have some guys that can compel the average fan to pay money to watch them fight.
There is a reason that Brock Lesnar is a huge draw and that Tito Ortiz still is relevant in the UFC. That is because they both have hype skills and pull emotions out of the viewers.
Shane Carwin is a beast of a fighter and really exciting to watch, but to hear him talk, he is somewhat robotic. Heyman will do his best to tap into the personality of Carwin, and hopefully sell his main event bout at UFC 131 with Junior dos Santos.
