Cain Velasquez knew he was in for a combat when he first laid eyes on Brock Lesnar.
The heavyweight greats squared off at UFC 121 in October 2010 and although Velasquez went on to win the competition by way of a dominant first-round knockout, his first impression of Lesnar was one in all pure awe.
“Clearly, his measurement,” Velasquez stated in an interview with Tim Kennedy. “His measurement, his energy, and realizing how good of a wrestler he’s. Once more, OK, harmful, might be harmful, particularly with a sure fashion, for positive. However his huge measurement is like, ‘Wow, it’s an enormous human.’”
Lesnar’s measurement, athleticism, and wrestling capability have been sufficient to earn him the UFC heavyweight title in simply his fourth professional MMA bout. Nonetheless, the longtime professional wrestling star was unable to overpower Velasquez and finally succumbed to a flurry of punches, dropping his belt to Velasquez.
A two-time NCAA All-American in wrestling, Velasquez proved to be greater than a match for Lesnar, and he credit his group—which included future UFC Corridor of Famer Daniel Cormier—for making ready him for the worst potential situations.
“I most likely weighed in at, like, 240-something moving into,” Velasquez stated. “My robust fits with him, I used to be excellent at getting off on the underside. We did this in school wrestling lots. I used to be simply excellent at getting up from the underside, so I knew if I have been to get caught there, then it could possibly be an extended evening for me, however we labored on that over and over with DC. We had one other nationwide champion heavyweight wrestler are available in.
“We began within the worst positions, no matter [coach] Bob [Cook] stated, in the course of sparring, I needed to lay down on my again with 16-ounce gloves and had DC lay on high of me and that’s the place we began from a number of occasions a spherical. So I used to be excellent at getting up from the underside, particularly for that camp, and I knew I simply needed to hold it on the ft with strikes. Simply the strain of all the pieces, however it didn’t matter for me. My mentality was I didn’t care if I misplaced or gained, I’m simply going to present you what I’ve. That’s it. That’s all I might do.”
Velasquez managed a pair of title defenses throughout his run as heavyweight champion, however his profession was lower quick by a litany of accidents. He retired from MMA competitors in 2019 and later dabbled in professional wrestling with a number of corporations, together with WWE. At the moment, Velasquez awaits sentencing after pleading no-contest to a number of costs stemming from an incident through which he fired right into a automobile containing Harry Goularte, who’s accused of molesting Velasquez’s son at a daycare owned by Goularte’s mom.
As for a way Velasquez thinks he would fare in opposition to the present high heavyweights like Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall, he stored his prediction to himself, however agreed the matchups can be compelling.
“I feel they’d be shut fights or thrilling fights,” Velasquez stated.
