UFC 104 Review: Is Cain Velasquez Ready For A Title Shot?

by Kelvin Hunt on Oct 26, 2009 2:15 PM EDT in News Comment 9 comments

UFC Heavyweight Cain Velasquez

Velasquez's head trainer Javier Mendez makes the case as he spoke with Sherdog:

"[Lesnar] is an extremely hard fight for us," Mendez said. "We’re going to definitely have to win the standup game and the kicking game. And then the wrestling, the size of Brock could potentially neutralize us, but Cain’s cardio is going to neutralize him, so it’s going to be a really, really interesting fight."

"Should Carwin get past Lesnar, it’s going to be a little different fight," Mendez said. "We can’t attack the same as against Lesnar because Carwin is to be respected because of his incredible power, and his wrestling is top notch also. We will have to take a different path because he is a different fighter with different strengths."

I think both fighters are a tough fight for Velasquez. He doesn't really seem to possess KO power with his stand up game, and both Lesnar and Carwin are absolutely huge. While Rothwell was huge compared to Velasquez as well, Rothwell doesn't have near the wrestling pedigree that they have. So it would be interesting to see how he stacked up against either Lesnar or Carwin. Mendez elaborates further on why Velasquez should be next in line for a title shot:

"If you look at the records of all the heavyweights, Cain is 5-0 [and] I don’t think there has ever been a UFC heavyweight who has gone 5-0," said Mendez. "Who is there left for us to fight that’s not in title contention? Frank Mir, Nogueira … they’re all top guys. Carwin, Lesnar is the champ. I feel that now, we can fight the champion now. To me, they’re all interchangeable. They’re all just as tough. They all have their strengths."

It's being rumored that Velasquez could help headline a show in Mexico City in the early quarter of 2010. However, if Velasquez gets the winner of Carwin/Lesnar, where does that leave Nogueira?

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He’d have to wear those behemoths out, they’re right about that… but I see Lesnar pounding him out, Carwin has a better chance than most to catch him what with being a decent enough wrestler and big enough to probaly stop his takedowns (or at least impede them).

Bloody hell.

by 3PA on Oct 26, 2009 2:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

They talk about tiring them out

I wonder how Carwin’s cardio is? They don’t even know…he’s never been past the first round in a fight…and doing so in practice is totally different than the last minute of the 3rd round as a huge HW like Carwin.

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by Kelvin Hunt on Oct 26, 2009 2:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

A precision striker with decent takedown defense is the template for the dude with the best chance to beat Carwin, Cain tries to strike with him he would likely get KTFO.

I’ve heard Carwin does well in the gym but that’s not saying much till he’s “field tested”… I have a feeling Brock might drag him into Round 2 or 3 at least, so we’ll see.

Bloody hell.

by 3PA on Oct 26, 2009 2:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I would recommend at least one more fight for Velasquez before fighting for the UFC title but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him fight for it next. I’ll say this: I think Cain has a much better chance against Brock than Carwin does (no disrespect to Shane at all).

by SlickRick00 on Oct 26, 2009 2:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Word

I’d like to see Cain get one more fight in before challenging as well. He’s young and has lots of time…whereas Carwin at 34 yrs old pretty much needed to take his shot now…

I just don’t know who I’d like to see Cain face….I would say Nogueira…but damn…I wanna see Nogueira vs Lesnar, I mean the winner of Lesnar/Carwin…ahem.

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by Kelvin Hunt on Oct 26, 2009 3:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs