411 MMA Interview: Cain Velasquez

Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 02.03.2009

Rising UFC Heavyweight, Cain Velasquez, checks with with 411mania.com for an exclusive interview.

At Fight Night 17, UFC heavyweight, Cain Velasquez, will make his return to the Octagon since his first round knockout over Jake O'Brien at UFC Fight Night 14: Silva VS. Irvin. Velasquez will have a spot on the main broadcast card where he will be taking on Denis Stojnić, a Bosnian heavyweight making his UFC debut. Velasquez seeks to remain undefeated in the UFC and his MMA career. Not to mention that Velasquez has finished all of his fights thus far by TKO in the first round. The American Kickboxing Academy member took a break from his training on January 30 to speak with me and 411mania.com about his upcoming fight, his UFC career, and what he hopes to accomplish in 2009.



Jeffrey "The Vile One" Harris: How are you feeling right now for your fight and what do you think of your opponent?

Cain Velasquez: I feel good. All my training is done. I'm ready to get in the cage and get the fight started. I feel he [Stojnić] is a good opponent. He's very aggressive, he goes in hard as well as punches. It should be an exciting fight.

TVO: Being a heavyweight prospect and facing a UFC outsider, do you always have to be on your toes? For example, Fabricio Werdum was in line for a UFC Heavyweight Title shot before his 90 second knockout loss in the first round to Junior dos Santos at UFC 91. Werdum was out of the UFC after that fight.

CV: No matter who you fight, no matter if it's their first UFC fight or they are a veteran, you've got to take it seriously no matter what. Anything can happen in the Octagon, and yeah that's the perfect example . . . definitely got to be ready no matter who you're in the cage with.

TVO: What did you work on for this fight to make sure you keep your undefeated streak intact?

CV: Same game plan of my previous fights. He's a little different, he does come hard, throws those hard punches, and seems like he's got a really good chin on him, and he's a real strong guy. So with this guy I mostly worked in the corners, my footwork, and pretty much everything else is just doing what I've been doing - just stick to what's been working.

TVO: This will be your first fight of 2009 and your first fight since last July. Is there anything you hope to accomplish this year?

CV: Just to get my name out there, to even get in the top 10 of the heavyweight division for sure. Yeah, that's pretty much it, just work my way up the ladder, and if I do that this year, a couple years, as long as I get there for sure.

TVO: Who are you training with right now at American Kickboxing Academy? Do you ever go to a different gym and try some different sparring partners for some alternate perspective? Or do you like to stick with your current group?

CV: I mainly like to stick to my current group. I have Paul Buentello who just fought on the Affliction card; Mike Kyle, who's an ex-UFC fighter; Kyle Kingsbury who just fought on The Ultimate Fighter show; and Christian Wellisch who is fighting Jake O'Brien coming up this Saturday [at UFC 94]. So I do have some big guys I work out with and some other guys I know like Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Josh Thomson, Mike Swick, all those guys.

TVO: What was the transition like going from being a collegiate wrestler to an MMA fighter?

CV: It was easy, I thought. It was just another sport, but we were kind of doing the same thing, you know one on one, grappling, all that stuff. The only thing that was different about it was you have the boxing/kickboxing, but that's one of the transitions I've gotten really easy. So it's all competing and a different aspect of the sport, but it's pretty much the same thing. You pretty much have the same mentality in wrestling you have in MMA and you should be successful.

TVO: How did you break into MMA and get started?

CV: I was a junior at Arizona State. My college coach, who is Tom Ortiz, I told him I wanted to start fighting because I knew I wanted to start fighting when I was a junior. I told him, and he told me to get my degree and he would help me find a good camp, and he did – he got me with AKA, he's really good friends with DeWayne Zinkin who's my manager now, Zinkin Entertainment. So he hooked me up with these guys over here and it's been great.

TVO: Physically, what's the hardest part for you about training for an MMA fight?

CV: For the physical part of it, I would say we have to do more . . . its more pretty intense now than it was in wrestling. In wrestling you just had like a lift in the morning and the practice in the afternoon, but now I think we're – I think it's just more time consuming on my body, for sure.

TVO: What's the hardest part about the training from the mental perspective?

CV: As far as mental goes, I guess just learning all aspects of the game. You have to learn a lot more stuff than you would in wrestling like kickboxing, the wrestling, and the jiu-jitsu and mixing all of that together.

TVO: Is there a routine you follow right before you go in for a fight?

CV: As far as eating, I just eat something nice, nothing too heavy, but . . . I always hit a couple sprints before we go to the mat. Before we go to the arena, I'll hit a couple sprints to get my lungs blown out, and when I get to the dressing room for sure I like stretching out—getting warmed up. But one thing I always do for sure, I always think of the game plan we have against my opponent, keep playing that over in my head and that'll keep me calm right before the fight . . . just keeping my cardio up and making sure my body's ready and healthy.

TVO: What do you plan on doing for the fight with Denis Stojnić?

CV: Just wait for fight time, but no matter what its going to be good. Depending on how the fight goes, I plan on being on top for sure.

TVO: Anyone you'd like to thank or give a shout out too?

CV: I'd like to thank AKA [American Kickboxing Academy], DeWayne Zinkin/Zinkin Entertainment, & Joe Grasso/Elite Fitness.

Cain Velasquez (4-0) takes on Denis Stojnić (5-1) this Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 17 at the USF Fun Dome in Tampa. The show is set to broadcast live on SpikeTV.