Brock Lesnar retains his UFC heavyweight title

Brock Lesnar knows how to pull off a comeback.

He’s battled back from an extended hospital stay and layoff due to a major intestinal affliction that threatened to kill him or at least end his short but impressive career in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he had reigned as heavyweight champion.

Saturday at MGM Grand Garden Arena, in his first fight since the health scare, Lesnar found himself getting badly beat up again — this time by interim champion Shane Carwin.

Carwin punished Lesnar with blows that dropped him to the canvas, and proceeded to batter the champion with lefts and rights and elbows. One year after his last title defense, Lesnar was reduced to covering his head in desperation.

“I just had to weather the storm,” Lesnar said. “He hit me with some heavy shots.”

Said Carwin: “I was going for the kill there.”

He nailed Lesnar with a hard right knee to the head, then pounded him again with both fists. The fight shouldn’t have been stopped, but it could have been, and Carwin just needed to find a few more openings.

But that which didn’t kill Lesnar clearly made him stronger.

He rallied with a quick takedown in the second round, grasped Carwin’s neck with his left arm and worked to tighten his grip. At the 2:19 mark, Carwin tapped out, submitting to the arm triangle choke, and allowing Lesnar to retain the belt in a revealing test of will.

Lesnar (5-1) jumped to the octagon cage’s top and rejoiced in front of fans who once scorned him but Saturday appreciated the resilience.

“This is about my family, my doctors, my training staff,” Lesnar announced. “I am blessed by God. I stand before you a champion, and the toughest … around.”

Lesnar said as he sustained Carwin’s barrage, getting cut above both eyes and scraped along the right side of the face, he could tell the challenger “was getting tired. Each shot was getting less dramatic than the other. I thought, ‘Just let him go.’ ”

Carwin (12-1) confessed he “tightened up,” after the barrages, allowing Lesnar a mild reversal in the final minute of the first round.

The co-main event was also gripping. Middleweight Chris Leben (21-6) gave a tremendous performance in defeating Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-2) by third-round triangle chokehold.

Leben, fighting only two weeks after scoring a second-round TKO, was thrust into the bout when Wanderlei Silva injured his ribs last month.

Akiyama got the best of a stand-up fight in the first round, but he was tired and the pair entered into a thrilling exchange in the second.The crowd was further energized by Leben raising his arms during the break, encouraging appreciation.

He gave them reason to cheer in the final round, overcoming a swollen right eye and fatigue to maneuver on his back and apply the decisive triangle choke with his legs on Akiyama’s neck.

Akiyama tapped out, and Leben asked the crowd, “Is that what you guys came to see?”

lance.pugmire@latimes.com