UFC announces Mir vs. Carwin will be for interim title News not a good sign champion Brock Lesnar is coming back any time soon

Mark Weber/The Memphis Commercial Appeal

The UFC officially announced Monday that Las Vegas fighter Frank Mir (13-4) will take on the undefeated Shane Carwin (11-0) for the UFC heavyweight interim title at UFC 111 on March 27.

The announcement means that the UFC 111 event, which will be held in Newark, N.J., will feature two championship fights, as welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre will attempt to defend his title against Dan Hardy.

"UFC 111 will see our first two title fights of 2010 and they're both incredible matchups," said UFC president Dana White in a released statement.

The fact that Mir and Carwin will be fighting for the interim championship is a bad sign for fans hoping that current champion Brock Lesnar is on the mend from an illness that has kept him out of action since July.

White had said earlier that the decision to create an interim belt would come only when there was more development on the timetable of the champ's return.

Lesnar first revealed that he wasn't feeling right in October when he announced he had decided to pull out of a title defense against Carwin that was scheduled for November.

White later told reporters that Lesnar had undergone minor surgery because of a bacterial infection that had attacked his small intestine.

At the UFC 108 post-fight press conference Saturday, White gave another update on Lesnar, saying the fighter was meeting with doctors soon and still hopeful his career wasn't over.

"If the doctors say things are going well and things are going in the right direction, then maybe we're a few months away from him coming back," White said. "If it's not going the right direction, he'll either be done and have to retire or he'll be out for a couple years. So, hopefully we get good news."

White added that he was more concerned about his fighter's general health than his ability to compete again.

"The thing that I'm concerned about most is Brock Lesnar," White said. "If he has to have this major surgery, you're talking about changing the quality of this guy's life forever.

"Pay-per-view buys? I could give a (expletive) about that. I hope the guy is healthy."

Mir, who already has held the UFC heavyweight championship and interim championship, would become just the second fighter in UFC history to win the belt three times. Only Randy Couture has done that before.

Unlike in his last fight against Cheick Kongo in December, Mir was very respectful of his next opponent in a statement released by the UFC on Monday.

"Shane Carwin is an extremely dangerous opponent and being matched up against him is an honor," Mir said. "It'll be a great challenge to face him. I will need a strong game plan heading into this fight."

Brett Okamoto can be reached at 948-7817 or [email protected]. Also follow him on twitter: LVSunFighting.