In part 2 of this exclusive interview with The Fight Nerd, MMA legend Ken Shamrock explains his side of the story on UFC 9, where he fought Dan Severn for 35 minutes and lost by decision in a dull match. Ken tells us if this match was strategic or just boring, and also gives his thoughts on Frank Shamrock retiring, why he thinks mainstream athletes are now fighting in MMA, and why he doesn’t watch MMA on TV. Plus, retirement – when will Shamrock hang up the gloves for good?!

If you missed part one, check that out at this link here, where Ken talks about his fight against Pedro Rizzo and clears up remarks about steroids he said on HDNet, as well as how he would regulate steroids and why the California State Athletic Commission always seems to have problems with their drug testing.

Round 5 MMA has released images of several prototypes of its “Versus” line, pairs of distinctly new figures highlighting battle scenes from great UFC matchups. The prototypes were first seen at the Round 5 booth at the UFC Fan Expo in Las Vegas in May. In fact, we spoke with the owner of Round 5, Damon Lau, before the UFC Fan Expo happened and he hinted at this and a few other things to look forward to in the near future!

The “Versus” series includes collectibles representing the following bouts: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva (UFC 92), 12-27-2008; Forrest Griffin vs. Jackson (“The Ultimate Fighter 7”); Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar (UFC 100), 7-11-2008; and Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell (UFC 66), 12-30-2006. I personally enjoy the snarling grimace of Brock Lesnar, looking like he is about to tear into Frank Mir like a strip of Jack’s Links Beef Jerky. I am also a fan of the punched-out face Tito Ortiz is sporting in his two-pack with The Iceman!

The “Versus” line, scheduled to hit Toys“R”Us stores in the fall and other retailers later in the year, will be accompanied by an Octagon segment display. Also coming out this summer is the third wave of their UFC Collector series, which includes Diego Sanchez, Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and a different Wanderlei Silva from the one in this line. For more info on Round 5, head over to their official website.

Hit the jump to see the rest of the pics!

Spoiler alert! As of last night, we have an official unified heavyweight champion in the UFC, Brock Lesnar! Some might even call him the top dog atop the heavyweight food chain with Fedor dropped from his tenuous spot that he held onto for years. Brock overcame a fighter, Shane Carwin, who on paper had more tools at his disposal and more experience. Heck, Carwin made Frank Mir look like a walk through the park, that is if you walk through the park uppercutting people.

Carwin did the unthinkable, toppling Lesnar with punches and pounding him into a bloody stain on the mat. Referee Josh Rosenthal allowed the fight to continue, although to be fair if this was anything but the main event, it would have been a short night for the man on his back. Nonetheless, Carwin pounced and continued to thrash the former champ, Brock surviving and making it into the second round, looking down but not out.

Just as Carwin did the unthinkable in round one, Lesnar shocked the world when he took down a fatigued Carwin and worked not for ground and pound, but for a tight arm triangle choke. With no options and the blood quickly draining from his brain, Carwin was only able to muster a weak tap to signal his defeat and to signify who the next UFC heavyweight champion was.

It was crazy battle for a crazy night of fights, but my mind wanders away from the octagon. I picked Carwin as the next UFC champ, but his strategy does not sit well with me. There are things Carwin could have and should have done differently, and what kind of keyboard warrior would I be if I did not explain my strategy for Carwin defeating Lesnar in hindsight. But not just hindsight- using a welterweight fighter named Matt Serra as my guideline for success!

Don’t believe me? Then hit the jump!

Let’s take a look at the Matt Serra fights that I am putting on exhibit. Let’s jump into the Wayback Machine and set our timer on UFC 53 from that distant year of 2005. Serra was making his return to the UFC after having a successful run in the lightweight division against some mediocre fighters, Matt moved to welterweight and prepared to battle judo standout Karo Parisyan in his return fight.

At the time, Serra was conidered one of the most dangerous grapplers in the UFC, but he had been privately working on his stand-up skills to even things out and make himself more well-rounded. As the fight began, we saw the same Serra high-speed shuffling and pacing Serra was known for, then he threw an uncharacteristic punch that dropped Karo. Serra pounced on the dazed judoka and wailed away on Karo from top position for a few minutes, but Parisyan held on and absorbed the punishment, making it to the next round.

By the time Serra made it into the second round, his tank was empty and he had nothing left to offer Parisyan, who threw Serra around like a ragdoll and kept the BJJ black belt on his back, unable to offer much resistance as Karo worked for the ground and pound and an occasional submission attempt. Parisyan won by decision, but the fight showed a fatal flaw in Serra’s abilities at this new weight class. Despite having stronger strikes, his once-famous cardio was shot from punching himself out after the initial knockdown.

Serra was cast out of the UFC, only to return for the fourth season of “The Ultimate Fighter”, where he fought his way to the top and defeated Chris Lytle to win the show and earn an immediate title shot at the welterweight champion, Georges St. Pierre. The pair met at UFC 69, and once again, Serra did the unthinkable and knocked down GSP with a mighty hook. The New York-native leapt on GSP much like he did with Parisyan almost two years earlier, but this time after being unable to finish GSP, he got off of the champ and let him get back to his feet. Once standing, Serra did more of the same, making the Canadian crumble once more and then working to finish him with strikes and becoming the new Welterweight champion of the UFC.

So how does all of this compare to what happened last night with Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin? After all, Serra is a different fighter in a different weight class fighting different people! Last night, Carwin leveled Lesnar with his boulders for hands and just like Serra did with Parisyan and then from a similar position, pushed forward and dropped punches from top position, not a full mount either but just from a top position with Lensar’s legs still active. Shane pounded away, chipping away at Lesnar but not doing enough damage to finish him.

The question of whether Josh Rosenthal should have stepped in to stop the fight is debatable, similarly as Parisyan VS Serra was. To Lesnar’s credit, his hands were guarding his face and while he is not doing much to better his position he was blocking punches and when possible, he used his legs to push Carwin away twice. While Carwin was looking to finish, he was also tiring himself out quickly. His stamina was always an unknown factor but we did know that Lesnar could go the distance.

Once the second round started, Carwin was still aggressively chasing Lesnar despite his cardio disappearing. It was only a matter of time that he got sloppy and tired, and once he did Lesnar took a double leg and quickly worked not for strikes, but for that arm triangle choke that ended their dance.

During that first knockdown and ground & pound session, if Carwin had actually let Lesnar up, he most likely could have put Brock back on his ass in a matter of a few punches. In fact, it looked like after the first time Brock pushed off, he was trying to employ that strategy but grew impatient and jumped back on him. Had he waited a few more moments, Rosenthal would have definitely forced Brock to get back to his feet and put Brock back at a disadvantage. Knocking down a fresh Lesnar was a feat unto itself, but knocking down a stunned Lesnar would have been much easier and would have pushed Carwin into a TKO win, if not KO.

Carwin is still a young fighter and this was a good lesson for him patience, and he now knows what he has to work on to improve himself. That is what losses do, just as Serra recovered from his loss and put into practice what failed him the first time to do it right the next time it presented itself. I believe if these two fighters met again, Carwin could do the same thing he did to Brock in this meeting in the opening minutes, only next time he should be patient and let Lesnar come to him in a weakened state, instead of exhausting himself on a defending Lesnar and exposing his weaknesses for Lesnar to take advantage of after the reset.

What do you think? Would this strategy work for Carwin or is there something else you think he could have done differently to win? Or no matter what, would it not matter and would Brock end up with his arm raised once more?

Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley will have company very soon in the world of pro wrestlers jumping to MMA. According to a report from TMZ, recently retired WWE sports-entertainer Dave Batista has made claims that he will be entering the world of MMA. The tabloid news site caught Batista in Hollywood where their paparazzi camera man asked what was next for the former champ. WIth one mighty word, the man with more veins than a porn star’s penis stated “Strikeforce.”

When asked about a first opponent, Batista kept his lips shut, but he did say who he definitely did not want to face. According to MMAmania.com, Strikeforce reps are calling shenanigans on this story and saying he has not signed anything with the company at this time. That does not rule out the chances that he could sign later, or that this is a brilliant marketing ploy on the part of Strikeforce to drum up more interest in their program.

What do you think, should Batista join the ranks of MMA professionals or stick to powerbombing jobbers?

The Fight Nerd, in conjunction with Tomopop.com, takes a look at Wave 2 of the UFC Deluxe Action Figures from Jakks Pacific. This wave includes new figures of Mike Thomas Brown, Nate Marquardt, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and re-releases of Chuck Liddell, Royce Gracie, Forrest Griffin, and improved versions of Rashad Evans and Brock Lesnar. Are they worth buying? Watch the video to find out!

The UFC Fan Expo is over and the majority of the attendees have at last sobered up, at least enough to start posting pics of the huge event. Our friends at No Surrender Fight Wear attended the show, and being huge figure nerds like I am (maybe more since they made a Wanderlei Silva custom Mighty Muggs figure), snapped plenty of pics of all the new offerings on the way from Jakks Pacific and Round 5.

Jakks showed off many never before seen items and some we saw back at Toy Fair in NY, including figures of Don Frye, Wanderlei Silva, Matt Hughes, Sean Sherk, and Dan Severn, complete with dampened grey sweat shirt ( I wonder if every figure will come pre-soaked with “The Beast’s” perspiration). They also unveiled the first bloody pair of figures, Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin, and a mysterious translucent Chuck Liddell with illuminated guts and stuff. Pretty cool looking, even if it does seem like a clever way to market an anti-smoking ad.

Round 5 showed off more figures from their UFC Collector series, including Diego Sanchez, Wanderlei Silva, Randy Couture, Rashad Evans, BJ Penn, Chuck Liddell and many more. They also debuted their two-packs, which have all new sculpts for fighters they have made before like Rich Franklin, Frank Mir and Tito Ortiz, and also some totally new faces including Brock Lesnar.

Hit the jump to see many more pics of all the new toys and prepare for an MMA action figure nerdgasm!

The Ultimate Ultimate belt, a championship belt up there with the Pride OWGP title belts, is coming to a waistline near you!

Five new figurines depicting popular UFC fighters Rich “Ace” Franklin, Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, Diego “The Nightmare” Sanchez, Anderson “Spider” Silva and Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva will comprise the next UFC “Ultimate Collector” Round 5 series, as announced today by Barron Lau, Round 5 CEO and co-founder and Damon Lau, president and co-founder.

Fans will also want to be on the lookout for a special PRIDE edition of the Wanderlei Silva figurine, available on a limited basis. The PRIDE variant will feature the gloves and trunks Silva wore during his successful championship run between the PRIDE ropes.

Round 5 also announced the formation of its new “Versus” line, which highlights battle scenes from great matchups in MMA history. Additionally, these distinctly new figurines are accompanied by an Octagon segment display.

Included in the “Versus” series are figurine pairs from the following bouts: Quinton Jackson vs. W. Silva (UFC 92), 12-27-2008; Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn (UFC 94), 1-31-2009; Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar (UFC 100), 7-11-2008; Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell (UFC 66), 12-30-2006; Ortiz vs. Liddell (TUF 11); Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar (Ultimate Fighter Season Finale) 4-9-2005; and Jackson vs. Silva (PRIDE 28), 10-31-2004.

Series 3 is scheduled to be available at retail in the summer of 2010, while the “Versus” line is due to hit stores in time for the 2010 Holiday season. For more info on Round 5, head to their website. Anybody buying these figures?

Finally, you can carry Brock Lesnar in your pants pocket! Over on the Jakks Pacific Facebook Page, prototype pics were revealed of the debut wave of their UFC Micro figures two-packs, which recreates some very historic showdowns, only 1/144th of the size.

Wave 1 includes: UFC 100 – Lesnar vs Mir; UFC 58 – Penn vs GSP; UFC 64 – A Silva vs Franklin; UFC 47 – Liddell vs Ortiz. Each figure has seven points of articulation and will come with training accessories. The figures are around 2 inches tall and there will probably be a micro-sized octagon down the line for these figures as well. Also coming out later this year are 3 3/4 inch versions of the figures and more of the 7-inch line, which has already shown proto pics for Wave 5 with Wave 3 being available now.

More pics of these figures after the jump!

UFC Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has been revealed as the fighter to grace the cover of the second installment of THQ’s UFC Undisputed series. The top-selling Platinum/ Greatest hit game is set for a May 25 release, which happens to coincide with the predicted Summer return of Lesnar. UFC 114 is May 29, so there is a strong possibility Brock could return around then to help push game sales. The next UFC Fan Expo also happens to be that same weekend. How convenient.

Not much has been revealed other than this trailer from the Spike Video Game Awards which showed some new mechanics and a new face, but otherwise the game appears identical as far as appearance. As we come closer to this release date, EA MMA will also be on the way. So if you can only buy one, which will it be?

Here is the next big thing, Brock Lesnar! Does he have an official nickname yet in MMA? I guess with a name as cool as that, you don’t really need one. Here is wishing Brock a speedy recovery, love him or hate him, respect what he does and let’s hope he pulls through his current health problems and comes back to the octagon sooner than later!