Brock Lesnar [photo Koichi (c) MMATorch]

BY SHAWN ENNIS, MMATORCH SENIOR COLUMNIST

Yes, I know. UFC 101 is upon us at the moment, but I started writing this right before the whole Affliction debacle happened, and now that that particular situation has calmed down just a little, the next big event is already here. And before we hit the lightweight division after 101, it's time to wrap up the heavies.

With Brock Lesnar's thrashing of Frank Mir at UFC 100, a new era was ushered into the UFC heavyweight division. With all doubt about Lesnar's worthiness to the throne having been essentially erased, the question remains how long Lesnar can reign over what has historically been one of the UFC's more unstable divisions.

THE CHAMP

Brock Lesnar (4-1): I said it on the post-UFC 100 podcast, and I'll say it again here: Brock Lesnar is a bad man. If I told you three years ago that any fighter would come into the UFC on his second pro fight and beat Heath Herring, Randy Couture and Frank Mir, you'd think I was crazy. That in and of itself legitimizes Lesnar. No one has ever faced this kind of competition in the Zuffa age of MMA and come out of it with a title and a 4-1 record. I'm sorry, but it just hasn't happened. Lesnar is a monster, and he's going to hold the belt for a long time. It'll be interesting to see how he contends with a power puncher that has good wrestling (hello, Shane Carwin), but I still don't see him losing. And by the way, if you're wondering how Lesnar will go down in the pantheon of heavyweight champions, the record for consecutive title defenses is a meager two times. With one more, Lesnar ties that record.

THE CONTENDERS

I said before UFC 100 that a fight between Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez (but more likely the fight between Couture and Nogueira next month) could determine the next number one contender. Of course, some of that reasoning had to do with timing, as in filling the end-of-year show with a heavyweight title match. Of course, I was leaving out the possibility that the heavyweight crown would be defended next year on Super Bowl weekend. So it's been announced now that the Velasquez-Carwin winner will receive a title shot. And that makes them both…

A STEP OR TWO AWAY

Shane Carwin (11-0): If it weren't for Lesnar at the top, you'd almost have to consider Carwin the heir apparent to the heavyweight throne. At 11-0, Carwin has six wins by TKO and five wins by submission, and he's never been into the third minute of a fight. That's just insane. I don't mean to look past the very tough Cain Velasquez, whom Carwin will meet at UFC 104, but I can't think of a lot of guys who have the skill set to neutralize what relative little we've seen of Carwin so far. As for Velasquez, if he couldn't handle Cheick Kongo's power, he's getting dropped against Carwin, because you're not going to get that guy down with a double-leg while you're stunned. Don't be surprised if it's Carwin and Lesnar for the gold on Super Bowl weekend.

Cain Velasquez (6-0): The difference between Cain Velasquez and the first two fighters I mentioned is that he's five years younger than Lesnar and seven years younger than Carwin. Velasquez has looked very impressive in his four UFC fights, and he's got a shot at being the number one contender in the heavyweight division when he squares off against Shane Carwin at UFC 104. That's the fight which will tell us if Velasquez is in over his head at this point in his career. I don't know for sure what the answer is, but if I had to make a prediction, I see Carwin taking that fight in short order.

UP AND COMERS

Junior dos Santos (8-1): "Cigano" made an immediate impression when he burst onto the scene at UFC 90, knocking out Fabricio Werdum with a wicked uppercut just over a minute into the fight. He proved that it was no fluke when he dropped giant Dutchman Stefan Struve at UFC 95 four months later. Dos Santos will face the stiffest test of his young career when he fights Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 103. Should he be able to vanquish the hard-hitting Croatian, it would be yet another boon to the young fighter's career.

Tim Hague (10-1): Hague only has one fight in the UFC, but he made it an impressive one when he took out K-1 veteran Pat Barry in under two minutes with a guillotine choke. Hague showed good durability and ingenuity in his win, weathering an early storm by the hard-hitting Barry before sinking the fight-ending choke. Hague is a monster at 6'4", 260 lbs. He's gone to decision only twice, against the same man each time (Miodrag Petkovic). He lost the first split decision to Petkovic (his only loss) but avenged that loss in his last pre-UFC fight in October of 2008. Hague will get a shot at another UFC rookie, Todd Duffee, at UFC 102.

For the rest of the article including updates on where Randy Couture, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Frank Mir, and the non-UFC heavyweights all rank, click on the link below to go to MMATorch.com. PWTorch App users, be sure to search "MMATorch" in the iTunes App Store on your iPhone or iPod Touch and download our FREE MMATorch App to get all of the MMATorch full-length articles.

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