Shane Carwin Asks Bellator to be Alternate for Heavyweight Grand Prix

Former UFC interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin has announced his bid to become an alternate in the upcoming Bellator heavyweight grand prix. He shared the news via his Facebook page:“I sent Bellator MMA a request to get on as an Alternate for this amazing tournament. I really can’t wait to watch it either way but I am so pumped up for it I had to get my name on a list. I’d love a real title.”

Carwin has been out of action since UFC 130 in June of 2011 when he dropped a decision loss to Junior dos Santos. Carwin also competed against Brock Lesnar in a title unification bout at UFC 116 in a premiere heavyweight bought that defined the era of  the ‘big’ heavyweight. The estimated buy rate of that PPV was 1.16 million.

The grand prix is rumored to take place in April of 2018 with its winner being crowned the new Bellator heavyweight champion. The tournament will act as an opportunity to showcase the promotion’s division, which despite its age, does feature a who’s who of nostalgic heavyweight names.

Carwin already holds a win over Frank Mir, a participant in the upcoming tournament. The two met in an interim title fight at UFC 111. Carwin defeated Mir at 3:48 of the first round to solidify his shot at unifying the titles in the aforementioned bout with Lesnar.

The current Grand Prix participants include the likes of Matt Mitrione, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Frank Mir, Roy Nelson, ‘King Mo’ Lawal, Ryan Bader, Fedor Emelianenko, and Chael Sonnen.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 11/20/2017.