UFC 116: What happened when Brock Lesnar defended the Heavyweight Championship versus the unbeaten Shane Carwin?

UFC 116 was the biggest card of 2010.

Taking place on July 4, from the MGM Grand Garden Arena, in Las Vegas, Nevada, the event was headlined by a massive Heavyweight Championship clash between the champion, Brock Lesnar and the Interim titleholder, Shane Carwin.

Lesnar, had undergone surgery for a serious bout of diverticulitis following his successful title defence versus Frank Mir at UFC 100.

His absence from UFC cards had necessitated an Interim title match-up between Carwin and Mir at UFC 111. The unbeaten Carwin had won which set up the much anticipated headliner at UFC 116.

Carwin had finished all 12 of his previous opponents in the first round and came close to doing the same to Lesnar. The champion hung in there amid a barrage of heavy hitting from Carwin and survived to round two.

Carwin, now in the longest match of his career, began to tire and the opportunistic Lesnar took full advantage and locked in an arm triangle choke for the hard earned victory.

It was perhaps Lesnar's finest MMA fight and was an incredibly entertaining battle of the behemoths.

Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin exchange blows in the classic main event

Underneath the thrilling headliner, George Sotiropoulos won a unanimous decision against Kurt Pelligrino in a fairly one-sided bout that nevertheless was hugely entertaining throughout.

The "American Psycho" Stephan Bonnar once more lived up to his name in an all-out heavy hitting war with Krzysztof Soszynski which was the re-match of their encounter at UFC 110. Both fighters threw bombs from the get-go. Blood was spilled and an exhausted Bonnar got his revenge when he forced the TKO finish. Incredible entertainment.

Krzysztof Soszynski and Stephan Bonnar go to war for the second time in 2010

Perennial contender Chris Lytle faced Matt Brown in another exciting fight with plenty of strike combinations and submission attempts. Lytle took the win with a beautiful arm-lock which forced Brown to verbally submit as he was unable to physically tap out.

The co-main event was originally scheduled to be Yoshihiro Akiyama versus MMA legend, Wanderlei Silva. However, Silva was forced to withdraw due to injury and perennial contender Chris Leben stepped in to take his place.

The bout was a thrilling affair and arguably better than the Silva fight would have been. A blistering fight saw wild exchanges, numerous takedowns and tremendous grappling from both men. Leben scored the upset and in doing so became the first man to ever submit Akiyama. An absolutely brilliant match on a tremendous UFC card.

UFC 116 is one of the finest UFC events in history. Top to bottom, the card thrilled with electric action.

It was also a monster on pay per view, attracting a phenomenal 1.16 million pay per view buys; in 2018, that is still the seventh highest in company history.