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Shane Carwin quickly rose through the UFC heavyweight ranks, earning himself the interim title.

Just as quickly, Carwin’s body started disagreeing with him, forcing the engineer to retire from MMA recently.

Neck, back and knee issues were just some of the ailments that hampered Carwin, went 12-2 in his career, last fighting in 2011.

“I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders because it has been a struggle these last two, three, four years being in pain all of the time,” said Carwin, in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “MMA taught me a lot about myself. I was definitely meant to be a fighter in the cage. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the game of football. I still drive by the grass fields in the fall and smell that smell and it brings back memories, but being able to go one-on-one? That’s you. That’s 100 percent you. Anything you do in there is from your heart and mind. I think it’s the truest sport in the world today, as true as a competition can be in finding out who the best man is.”

Carwin added that giving up the sport he trained “since he was six” was very difficult, but he knew it was time.

Kudos to Carwin, who listened to his body and didn’t put any further wear or tear on it. Hopefully he enjoys retirement.

The guys from The MMA Beat are back after taking a few months off. They basically focus on Anderson Silva and Shane Carwin.

Yesterday, Shane Carwin decided to retire at age 38. Though he achieved an interim title in the heavyweight division, you have to imagine that if Carwin had made MMA his main career, he could have achieved more in the sport. He hit incredibly hard but as Junior Dos Santos showed, he never developed the nuanced boxing attack. When he face top competition like Lesnar and Dos Santos, he faltered.

Carwin also missed the boat on his full potential due to injuries. There would some who thought he could have made himself into a late round draft pick in the NFL but he was derailed by injuries. Carwin’s injury-prone body proved to be his downfall.

His wrestling was enough that he was able to stand with most heavyweights. After winning all of his UFC fights within the first frame, he was propelled to a title shot. His best wins were over Gabriel Gonzaga and Frank Mir. That’s not exactly a murderer’s row but he also damn near beat Brock Lesnar into a bloody pulp. If not for some fine refereeing by referee Josh Rosenthal (which I thought was warranted), Carwin might have been the UFC heavyweight champion.

If Carwin had focused on MMA rather than being both an engineer and a professional fighter, he might have been a special heavyweight. His boxing was good but he relied too much on power and not enough on technique. Junior Dos Santos showed Carwin what true boxing prowess looked like. But with an good chin, a  wrestling base, and one punch knockout power, Carwin could really have developed into a dominant sprawl and brawler a lot like Chuck Liddell. Instead he will be remembered as a good, but flawed heavyweight who had a relatively short career in the UFC.

Shane Carwin has had enough.

The 38-year-old engineer by day has announced his retirement from MMA. Carwin finished his career 12-2 and is a former interim UFC heavyweight champion.

Officially retired 2day:-) thank you to my family, friends and fans! #dreambig GOD BLESS!!!

— Shane Carwin (@ShaneCarwin) May 8, 2013

Carwin has underwent neck, back and knee surgery since 2010, and has not fought since a loss to Junior dos Santos in 2011. He served as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter late last year, but was forced out of a planned bout with Roy Nelson.

Heavyweights Roy Nelson and Matt Mitrione will collide Saturday night in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale.

Both fighters, along with the rest of the card, stepped on the scales earlier today.

Pat Barry and Shane Del Rosario, Melvin Guillard and Jamie Varner, and Dustin Poirier and Jonathan Brookins will also be in action.

The finals of TUF feature Colton Smith and Mike Ricci.

Below are the complete weigh-in results:

MAIN CARD (FX)

Roy Nelson (252 lbs.) vs. Matt Mitrione (257 lbs.)

Colton Smith (170 lbs.) vs. Mike Ricci (171 lbs.)

Pat Barry (238 lbs.) vs. Shane Del Rosario (244 lbs.)

Melvin Guillard (156 lbs.) vs. Jamie Varner (156 lbs.)

Dustin Poirier (146 lbs.) vs. Jonathan Brookins (146 lbs.)

PRELIMINARY CARD (Fuel TV)

Mike Pyle (171 lbs.) vs. James Head (171 lbs.)

Johnny Bedford (136 lbs.) vs. Marcos Vinicius (136 lbs.)

Vinc Pichel (156 lbs.) vs. Rustam Khabilov (155 lbs.)

Nick Catone (171 lbs.) vs. TJ Waldburger (170 lbs.)

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook)

Reuben Duran (136 lbs.) vs. Hugo Viana (135 lbs.)

John Cofer (156 lbs.) vs. Mike Rio (156 lbs.)

Jared Papazian (126 lbs.) vs. Tim Elliott (126 lbs.)

Roy Nelson isn’t one to shy away from speaking his mind.

Nelson has been quick to say exactly how he feels when it concerns his former opponent, Shane Carwin. The two, who coached the ongoing season of The Ultimate Fighter, were set to square off later this month.

However, after Carwin suffered extensive damage to his knee, the former interim UFC heavyweight champion was forced to pull out of the fight. In his place will be Matt Mitrione, who faces Nelson in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale.

As far as “Big Country” is concerned, he never really figured he would face Carwin.

“It’s not the first time he’s pulled out of a fight with me,” said Nelson, during a recent interview with MMAjunkie.com. “I was just kind of getting through the day (when filming TUF). I really didn’t care. If he showed up, he showed up. If he didn’t he didn’t. For somebody that said he wanted to punch me in my face, I guess he really didn’t want to punch me in my face too bad.”

Nelson (17-7) will be looking to improve to 5-3 inside the UFC, as the former Ultimate Fighter winner recently topped Dave Herman after falling to Fabricio Werdum.

Photo credit: Tracy Lee/CombatLifestyle.com

Jason Genet, the manager for Shane Carwin, informed Fighters.com that his client suffered extensive damage to his knee in training.

Carwin was forced to withdraw from a planned heavyweight encounter with Roy Nelson next month at The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale. A replacement fighter for Carwin is being sought, as the two are currently seen as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter.

“He was essentially training through the injury and pushed too hard, too fast,” said Genet, who confirmed that Carwin tore his PCL, LCL and popliteus. “The gut feeling is that he can recover without surgery if he rehabs it.”

Carwin made mention of a knee injury several weeks back, but claimed he would be able to fight through it and remain on track to compete. The former interim UFC heavyweight champion was looking to return to action for the first time since a 2011 loss to Junior dos Santos.

Shane Carwin has re-injured his knee and will not be able to face Roy Nelson next month at The Ultimate Fighter Finale 16. UFC president Dana White made the announcement via Twitter on Wednesday.

WOW!! It never ends Carwin blew his knee out. Looking for a new opponent for Roy on the TUF Finale on FX.

— Dana White (@danawhite) November 14, 2012

Carwin mentioned a knee injury suffered in training shortly after filming for TUF, but expected to be able to fight through it. It’s unknown if this is the same injury, a new one, or just further damage from trying to train through the initial injury.

Nelson is expected to remain on the card in the main event slot.

After Dan jokingly mentioned he needed to open a “S*** Talking” school, Phil Davis and Shane Carwin have decided they want to enroll.

Shane goes into some details as to why he doesn’t like Roy Nelson.