The Greatest MMA News Column 02.23.10: The Rise of Cain Velasquez

Posted by Dan Plunkett on 02.23.2010

411's Dan Plunkett takes a look at the rise of Cain Velasquez, culminating in his incredible performance against Minotauro Nogueira at UFC 110. Plus, thoughts on everything UFC 110, Frank Mir's desire to kill Brock Lesnar, and much more!

The Rise of Cain Velasquez

It's been widely believed for quite some time that Cain Velasquez was going to be phenomenal heavyweight fighter one day. He had been praised by trainers at the American Kickboxing Academy as the most promising fighter in the gym – a big compliment considering Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, and Mike Swick among others also call AKA home. His quick, dominating wins over Brad Morris, Jake O'Brien, and Denis Stojnic only gave more confidence that the notion of Velasquez being a top heavyweight would one day become fact.

In his first big bout, Velasquez came through and defeated Cheick Kongo by decision. Then in October, he easily took out tough veteran Ben Rothwell. Despite the utter domination of both opponents, there were things in both fights that made people, including myself, believe that Cain wasn't quite there as a top heavyweight. Sure, he showed very good recovery in the Kongo fight, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he was on Queer Street twice in that fight. Ben Rothwell was never really in the fight, but it seemed that Velasquez didn't quite have the punching power to take him out.

On Saturday, Velasquez made his first appearance in a UFC main event when he took on a legend in Minotauro Nogueira. I would be lying if I said Velasquez was a huge underdog and nobody thought he could get past the former Pride and UFC Heavyweight Champion. However, of the people that predicted Velasquez to emerge victorious, the overwhelming majority chose him to win by decision. After all, there was no way Velasquez could submit the BJJ black belt Nogueira and his punching power certainly wasn't that of a Lesnar, Carwin, or even Mir, so finishing the near unstoppable Nogueira seemed like a pipe dream.

My how wrong we were; Velasquez decided to keep the fight standing and it took less than a minute to see he had a huge speed advantage. On top of that, Velasquez's diverse striking attack –utilizing great combos with his hands and finishing with kicks- was so effective early that it was evident Minotauro needed to get the fight to the floor or risk getting picked apart. Velasquez's trainer Javier Mendez stated in a July 2008 interview with Dave Meltzer that the proud Mexican-American had K-1 level striking. Of course, that was an exaggeration at the time, but on Saturday Velasquez put on by far the best striking performance of his career. And if you still had any questions about his power, watch this:



After the strong showing, it became clear that Velasquez is the biggest threat to Lesnar's heavyweight title. Fellow top contenders Frank Mir and Shane Carwin, who fight for the next title shot in March, have more weaknesses that Brock could take advantage of. Mir has solid striking, a great ground game, and has improved his size and strength, but Lesnar's wrestling and amazing ability to control his opponent negate Mir's biggest strengths. Shane Carwin is very powerful and like Lesnar has a wrestling pedigree, but his wrestling credentials aren't as good as Lesnar's. Plus, Carwin's stand-up isn't as good as Velasquez's and let us not forget he was badly hurt by Gabriel Gonzaga.

As for the AKA product, he has better stand-up than Lesnar and I believe could hold his own in the wrestling department. Sure, Brock was a national wrestling champion while Velasquez never achieved that status, but the two-time All-American from Arizona State isn't nearly as far removed from his collegiate wrestling days as Lesnar. Not to mention Velasquez is widely considered one of, if not the, best conditioned heavyweight in all of MMA.

Velasquez's breakthrough performance is also great for the UFC, whose goal of expanding the company worldwide is well known. In 2007-8, Roger Huerta was christened the fighter that would break the UFC into the Latino market, which had been dominated by boxing who boasted a huge star in Oscar de la Hoya. Huerta then dropped two consecutive fights to Kenny Florian and Gray Maynard and is most likely on his way out of the UFC. The bi-lingual Velasquez is a more than suitable replacement for Huerta. He will most likely be the key for the UFC's next big step in Mexico, a market which already drew 25 million viewers for UFC 100.

It seems as though the UFC is willing to hold off giving the ever improving Velasquez a title shot in favor of Mir or Carwin, who would likely draw better buyrates. In the case of Mir, a third bout between him and Lesnar would be the biggest fight the UFC could put on at the moment. Carwin isn't much of a fan of Lesnar and he's willing to talk about it, unlike Velasquez who does most of his talking inside the eight caged walls of the Octagon.

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The Future of MMA By Bobby Razak from Bobby Razak on Vimeo.

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UFC 110 Thoughts

- I said prior to the event that I thought we'd see Cro Cop's best performance in the UFC, and I think I was right, mostly because his UFC performances haven't been that remarkable. He showed that he still had good takedown defense and his ground and pound was good. Aside from that, he didn't really show me too much. He still isn't throwing many combinations, didn't throw many kicks, and isn't setting up his head kicks. Mirko is also still suffering from one of the worst ring-cage transitions I've ever seen. In his UFC career he's fought three opponents that were clearly overmatched and when they move away from him he simply follows instead of cutting off the cage. If Mirko wants this run to be a successful one he needs to learn to enhance his cage presence by cutting off his opponents. I would love to see him recruit the help of a UFC veteran like Randy Couture to teach him how to do this.

- Jardine vs. Bader went pretty much how I predicted it would. Bader caught Jardine with his hands down and followed up with a flying knee and left hook that ended the fight. This is a huge win for Bader but it only gets tougher from here. The winner of Jon Jones vs. Brandon Vera might make a logical opponent for Bader, unless Jones wins and the UFC wants to keep two of their most promising light heavyweights away from each other for the time being. I don't know how to feel about "The Dean of Mean." On one hand, he's lost three fights in a row that showed off the weakness of his striking defense/chin. However when you take into account one of those losses was to Rampage Jackson and another to a good opponent in Thiago Silva, it makes me think the UFC will keep the TUF 2 vet around for another fight.

- George Sotiropoulos picked a great venue to put on the best performance of his career. I thought Stevenson would have the wrestling advantage and therefore would be able to be in top position most of the fight, but that wasn't the case. Sotiropoulos was able to show off his superb top game when he took down Stevenson early in the first. He kept that momentum for the entire fight en route to a decision victory. Should Sean Sherk ever not get injured whilst training for a fight I would love to see Sotiropoulos tested against "The Muscle Shark" next. If that can't happen, Gray Maynard, Tyson Griffin, and the winner of Kenny Florian-Takanori Gomi would all make suitable opponents.

- Finally we get to the fighter everybody loves, Wanderlei Silva. "The Axe Murderer" made a successful debut at middleweight and looked better than he has in a long time. It was a close bout for the most part but the guillotine at the end of the second and the knockdown to end the fight made Wanderlei the clear winner. The UFC will probably make Silva vs. Akiyama next, a fight which was originally scheduled for this card. That should be a very fun fight as Akiyama tends to get drawn in to brawls. I'm certain that will end in one, or both, fighters will be taking home a bonus check from the UFC after it's all said and done.

- Finally we get to Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira. Like most, I felt Nogueira had his best performance in years against Randy Couture in August. This fight however Nogueira was clearly outclassed on the feet and never got the chance to take the fight to the ground. Is Nogueira done as a serious title threat? I believe so. Minotauro has relied heavily on his ability to take a punch over the years and not only has his chin diminished but heavyweights are getting bigger, stronger, and faster. He does however remain a top ten fighter and will be a great test for any heavyweight not named Fedor, Brock, Cain, and possibly Frank and Shane, for the next couple years.

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The Green Power Ranger's second MMA fight. I have no idea why this is getting so much attention, but I guess I'm just contributing to the problem.

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Frank Mir Wants to Kill Brock Lesnar…Literally

From a recent interview with Mark Madden on WXDX radio:

"A lot of individuals are so worried about being politically correct. I'd rather go ahead and say what's on my mind than to sit there and come up with some PC 'Oh, the guy is a great fighter and I have a lot of respect for him.' If I don't mean it, why is it even coming out of my mouth? ... I want to fight Lesnar. I hate who he is as a person. I want to break his neck in the ring. I want him to be the first person that dies due to Octagon-related injuries. That's what's going through my mind.
…He doesn't like me and I can guarantee, you talk to anybody in my family, it's a legitimate hate. His very being bugs me just because I've seen a lot of children out there who look to athletes and martial artists as role models, and it just makes me cringe. I sit there and go, 'Man, I lost to this guy the second time around and now people think that's the way to be -- be big, obnoxious and angry.' That's not right. We have anger toward each other. Everything I stand for he despises and dislikes, and I can tell you I truly do not like him as a person whatsoever."

I like Frank Mir. In my opinion he is the single best talker in MMA. However, I think he's going a little too far saying he wants Brock to die from injuries sustained in a possible trilogy bout between the two. The second paragraph may very well be the best pre-fight build-up I've ever heard and the reason I would have no problem with Mir leapfrogging Velasquez for a title shot. However I don't think saying he wants Brock Lesnar to die is getting the kind of "good heat" that is useful in building up fights, though I certainly respect him for speaking his mind so openly.

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Chuck Liddell back when he was a bouncer:

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Thanks for reading. Look out for a column on the closed guard tomorrow featuring comments from many fighters including Kenny Florian, Cesar Gracie, and the ever entertaining Tom Lawlor. You can leave feedback in the comment box or at the e-mail address below. If you so please, you can also follow me on Twitter.