Cain Velazquez knew he was in the fight when he first turned to Brock Lesnar.
The heavyweight greats squared at UFC 121 in October 2010, and Velazquez won the contest with a dominant first-round knockout, but his first impression of Lesnar was one of pure adoration.
“Obviously, his size,” Velazquez said in an interview with Tim Kennedy. “I know his size, his strengths, and how good he is. Again, OK, dangerous, and can be dangerous, especially in certain styles. But his huge size is like, “Wow, that’s a big person.” ”
Lesnar’s size, athleticism and wrestling ability were enough to win the UFC heavyweight title in his fourth professional MMA match. However, the longtime professional wrestling star couldn’t overwhelm Velázquez and ultimately succumbed to a gust of punches and dropped his belt to Verázque.
Velazquez, a two-time NCAA All-American in wrestling, has proven to be more than a match against Lesnar, and believes in his team, including future UFC Hall Daniel Cormier, to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
“I probably came in like I was in my 240s,” Velazquez said. “A strong suit with him, I was very good at getting off the bottom. I did this in college wrestling. I was very good at getting up from the bottom, so if I was stuck there, it could be a long night for me, but we worked on it over and over again in DC. We had another National Champion heavyweight wrestler in.
“We started in the worst position. Bob (Cook) said he was lying on his back in his 16-ounce gloves in the middle of sparring, with DC lying on me. So, especially for that camp, I was very good at getting up from the bottom. I knew I had to keep it on my feet on a strike. It was all the pressure, but it didn’t matter to me. My mentality was that I didn’t care if I lost or won. I’m going to give you what I have. That’s all I can do.”
Velazquez managed a pair of title defenses while running as a heavyweight champion, but his career was shortened by many injuries. He retired from MMA competition in 2019 and later dabbled in professional wrestling with several companies, including WWE. Now, Velázquez is awaiting his sentence after admitting that it doesn’t come from several charges that stem from a shooting in a vehicle that includes Harry Goulate, who is accused of abusing Velázquez’s son at a daycare owned by Goulate’s mother.
He kept his own predictions about how Velazquez thinks he’ll compete against current top heavyweights like John Jones and Tom Aspinoll, but agreed that the matchups are convincing.
“I think they’re a close fight or an exciting fight,” Velazquez said.