UFC 116 audio: White and Lesnar not worried about ring rust
Who or what can stop Brock Lesnar? Shane Carwin might be the answer or might it simply be the fact that you can't come back from a year away from the cage without suffering some consequences?
Dana White says the time away could actually turn out to be a positive.
"Ring rust is something I always talk about. It's very real," White told ESPN1100. "The two things that make this fight different are, he's only got five fights. How much ring rust can this guy have? He's green. He's just a freak of nature. The other thing is, if he was really at just 60 or 70 percent, now he's at a 100 ... I think that'll make up for some ring rust."
Lesnar blew off the concept of ring rust.
"I'll run through the guy that I've had in my gym this training camp and if I have any ring rust left on me by the time July 3rd rolls around that's a crying shame."
He also said by bringing new people into the mix, he's found a way to counteract any negative effects of the layoff.
"I got a new strength and conditioning coach. I brought in Peter Welch, a new boxing coach, that I've been working with since January," said Lesnar. "I've really come leaps and bounds. I just wanted to evolve. Things were getting a little stagnant."
Peter Welch has worked with Kenny Florian for a longtime and was the New England Golden Gloves boxing champ in 1989 at junior middleweight. Both fighters have drilled their standup heavily in recent years. Carwin told the media Wednesday that his boxing was so bad when he started that he was embarrassed to even shadow box. That's not the case anymore. If neither guy can get an edge wrestling, we may see a slugfest.
