Fighting Jon Olav Einemo is a bad business for Shane Carwin

UFC President Dana White confirmed yesterday that the former UFC Heavyweight title contender Shane “The Enigneer” Carwin will make his Octagon return against no other than the Golden Glory fighter and UFC newcomer John Olav Einemo. Carwin will square off against the 35-year old Einemo at the main card of Lesnar-JDS headlined UFC 131 on June 11th.

Not to take anything away from Jon Olav Einemo, but I’m really having a hard time finding the logic behind such match-up.

The first question that comes to my head, is why would a top ranked Heavyweight square off against an unranked fighter such as Jon Olav Einemo? Shane Carwin is currently in position where a single victory could put him back on track for a shot at the UFC Heavyweight title. Carwin came very close to becoming the UFC Heavyweight Champion at UFC 116, and surely deserves a top name to prove his worth.

And it’s not just about the rankings or not being a “top name”, Jon Olav Einemo fought for the last time almost five years ago, against no other than James Thompson. Except of this fight against Thompson (oh, well), and the Decision loss to Fabricio Werdum in PRIDE, Einemo didn’t fight against any of known, not speaking about top-tier, MMA fighters.

So yes, you can add the “inactive” to an already existing “unranked” in this equation.

Of course, Einemo is an outstanding submission artist, winning the 2003 Abu Dhabi Tournament, where he defeated Roger Gracie in the Semi’s and then Alexandre Ferreira in the Final. But then again, his latest known grappling achievement is a Quarter-Final of the 2005 ADCC.  That’s right, six years ago.

There are plenty of other exciting match-ups for Shane Carwin in the UFC. Fighting someone like Cheick Kongo, Pat Barry, Stefan Struve or even Mike Russow is a much better idea than putting up Carwin against the relatively unknown Norwegian. I’m sure that the UFC fans would love to see Carwin against the listed above fighters, especially against strikers Cheick Kongo and Pat Barry.

Carwin has little to gain and a lot to lose in this fight. In case of defeat, “The Engineer” will definitely find himself out of the Top 10 Heavyweight zone, and about four fights away from another shot at the title. It’s a bad business for Shane Carwin.

In the end, Einemo has a golden opportunity to prove his fighting skills against a top-tier Heavyweight. It’s without a doubt the biggest fight of his career, as a victory will surely catapult him into a very favorable position in the UFC. Will I eat my words? We’ll have to wait for June 11th to find out.