When Shane Carwin went from the being on the brink of dominantly beating UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar in the first round of their title tilt last Saturday night to feebly succumbing to an arm triangle choke in the second frame, many people were left wondering,"What the hell happened?"

Carwin, who originally claimed that his body locked up as a result of lactic acidosis, now says that his lack of energy to finish Lesnar was a result of a massive adrenaline dump, caused by the instruction of referee Josh Rosenthal.

Carwin explained the interesting series of events that led to his defeat to Heavy.com.

“During the first round, (referee) Josh (Rosenthal) was telling Brock to fight back or he will stop the fight,” explained Carwin, going back over the action from Saturday’s event in Las Vegas. “Every time I heard that, I unloaded a little more and eventually just punched myself out.”

His decline in performance near the end of the first round when he seemed to have the fight in the bag caused many to question his cardio and whether or not working a full time job while training part time was partially to blame for Carwin's rapid energy depletion.

According to the Trevor Wittman Grudge Training Centre trained fighter says the claim is without merit.

“Anyone who questions my cardio should come and train with me. We trained for a twenty-five minute fight but things go wrong. It happens. I basically had an adrenaline dump towards the end of the first (round) and I was unable to recover in between rounds. I think the biggest factor of the adrenaline dump was hearing Rosenthal say, `Brock I am going to stop it,’ and then not stopping it,” admitted Carwin. “He said it at least three different points in the round, and each time I went for the finish and it never came. It sucked the wind and life out of me.”

Despite the overwhelming consensus that champions need to train as if it's their job, Carwin thumbs his nose at the notion that he should quit his day job as an engineer if he wants to compete.

“I am surprised by how many people view their jobs as an obstacle to chasing your dreams. The job has allowed me to become the fighter I am today; it has not hindered me in any way. I find it insulting that people do not understand that. Ask any of the pro fighters I train with if they out train me or think I could be a better fighter if I was in the gym more. Fact is I might be the one in the gym the most."

“My life has a structure to it and I include training into that structure,” continued Carwin. “I am not shooting movies, working on TV shows, or working in a 9-5 bank. I am a full-time fighter, full-time engineer, father and husband. My whole life I have been a multi-sport athlete and was always required to do my fair share around the house and in school. The fundamentals of life came before the pursuit of my dreams.”

If he ever gets another chance to fight for the title again, Carwin says he won't let the opportunity slip him by again, believing he has the tools to disassemble the champ. Recanting on earlier claims that he felt Lesnar "go out" when he connected with punches in the opening stanza, he says that he could have had his hand raised if he had just connected with one bomb.

“If I had it to do all over again I would probably go for it again. If some of those hard blows landed he would have been knocked out. This was the biggest fight of my life and I swung for the fences and came up short. Next time, I won’t falter and I will have my hand raised.”
-Cage Potato
It all boils down to Carwin could have won if his conditioning was better. I really wanted Carwin to win but he gassed and that cost him the fight. I also did not know he had a day job. He says it does not effect his training but IMO he would be a lot better of a fighter if all he concentrated on was his training. Those 8 hrs (or whatever) a day he is at work his body could be resting and recuperating.