UFC Makes Lesnar-Carwin, Ortiz-Coleman Official

The UFC announced Monday that a previously reported heavyweight title bout between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin is set for UFC 106 on Nov. 21 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

“I'm excited to get back in the Octagon on November 21st to defend my title,” Lesnar said in a news release. “I’m looking forward to fighting Shane Carwin. He’s undefeated and I’m the man who is going to put an end to that.”

Lesnar has won three straight since dropping his UFC debut to Frank Mir in February 2008. Most recently he avenged that loss to Mir and unified the UFC heavyweight title at UFC 100 in July.

Carwin stopped one-time heavyweight title contender Gabriel Gonzaga in his last outing. The March 2009 bout at UFC 96 marked a significant step up in competition, and Carwin passed the test impressively.

“I was extremely excited when I got the news that I was fighting Brock,” said Carwin, who’s listed as 6-foot-3 and 262 pounds compared to Lesnar at 6-foot-3 and 265. “I couldn’t even sleep that night. This fight is going to be different for both of us. We’re not used to facing someone who equals us in size. I can see this fight taking place everywhere. We both have wrestling backgrounds, but hopefully we’ll get into some exchanges on the feet too.”

The event will also feature Tito Ortiz’s return to the Octagon. A former UFC light heavyweight champion, Ortiz hasn’t fought since May 2008. He’ll take on former UFC heavyweight champion Mark Coleman.

“It’s like a homecoming for me,” Ortiz said. “The back is 100 percent and it’s great to be returning to the UFC. Styles make fights and our styles are exactly the same. I expect a war and I expect more excitement from this match than anything else this year. There are a lot of people out there that expect me to succeed and there are a lot of people out there that expect me to fail. But I feel great and I’m expecting to win back my belt.”

Other UFC 106 matchups that have been reported but not yet announced by the UFC include Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Luis Arthur Cane, Dustin Hazelett vs. Karo Parisyan, Jon Fitch vs. Ricardo Almeida, and Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni.