Monday's "UFC 121 Countdown: Lesnar vs. Velasquez" took a look at the top three fights featured on this Saturday's "UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velasquez" card from Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. We start off with the heavyweight championship bout between Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez and then move on to the welterweight clash between Jake Shields and Martin Kampmann before concluding with the light-heavyweight tilt between Tito Ortiz and Matt Hamill.
The show starts off hot with them pumping up Velasquez's Mexican heritage. Well, Lesnar has a quip for that: "Listen, when I get done whooping your ass, I'm gonna do drink a Corona and eat a burrito just for your Hispanic heritage. How about that?"
We go to Minnesota with Lesnar. We are taken through Lesnar's fight with Shane Carwin at UFC 116 in July. Lesnar admits he was nervous for the fight due to it being his first fight in a year. "He hits like a mule," Lesnar said. "There was a point tweety bird showed up a couple of times."
But Lesnar rebounded to pick up a submission win in the second round. Lesnar notes that both diverticulitis and Carwin kicked his ass, but both times he got back up to his feet. Velasquez says that first round showed Lesnar is a warrior. Javier Mendez says the difference here will be that Velasquez won't run out of gas like Carwin did. Joe Rogan says Velasquez is the most dangerous contender in the heavyweight division.
We then move to clips from Velasquez's last fight with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in Austrailia, a knockout for Velasquez in under three minutes. Lesnar says they aren't taking Velasquez lightly. He says they are going to push the envelope because Velasquez hasn't been tested. Dave Camarillo says they can win the fight everywhere, but they can only lose it on bottom. Velasquez says he has the skills and the drive to beat Lesnar.
That's our first segment. The rest of the recap can be read after the jump!
SBN coverage of UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velasquez
Rogan says it doesn't make sense when you see Lesnar move. He calls him "a freak athlete, one in a million." Mendez says the extra weight Lesnar has is a factor and they have to take account for that. Bob Cook says because of Velasquez's wrestling experience with bigger men, this isn't unchartered territory. Lesnar says "this is a whole other beast." He says Velasquez better be prepared come Oct. 23. Camarillo says the UFC has never seen another heavyweight like Velasquez. He moves like no heavyweight has ever moved and moves better than most lightweights. They say Velasquez is going to hit Lesnar a lot. Velasquez says we're going to see a five-round war with him on top at the end. Lesnar says, "You're not better than me, no matter who is whispering sweet nothings into your ear. Mr. Velasquez, you are not better than Brock Lesnar and you will find out come fight night."
Rogan calls this the biggest fight in the history of the heavyweight division and that's a wrap for that fight.
After a break, it's time to take a look at the fight between Jake Shields and Martin Kampmann.
Kampmann says Shields has a lot of hype behind him. But he notes Paulo Thiago also had a lot of hype behind him and "I calmed that down a little bit." We take a look at Kampmann's fight with Thiago. Rogan correctly states that Kampmann "shut (Thiago) down." Shields says he's been watching all of Kampmann's fights and thinks he's a phenomenal fighter. He wants to come in and fight one of the best and show he belongs. Rogan says Shields is the best jiu-jitsu fighter in the welterweight division.
Ron Frazier says Kampmann's ground game is really underrated but thinks his ground game is equal to if not better than his striking. Shields says Kampmann does have good jiu-jitsu, but it's not at his level. The chances of Kampmann submitting him, he says, are slim. Kampmann says he's going to try to stand and get it in his world. Rogan says he gives Kampmann the striking edge "for sure." Kampmann says Shields' standup isn't on his level and he's going to beat him up if he stands for too long. Shields says they'll find out when they're in there fighting. He says he's going to come at Kampmann 100 miles per hour. Kampmann says the UFC is his house and he's going to spoil the part.
It's now time for a brief look at the fight between Ortiz and Hamill. We are taken through the background of the two on "The Ultimate Fighter 3" where Hamill was Ortiz's No. 1 pick. We see how the two bonded before and after the show where Hamill trained with Ortiz. Hamill says he'll always be a member of Team Punishment. Ortiz says "no hard feelings, just business, man. No more than that." Hamill notes that there's only two fighters in the world that he's really close to: Rich Franklin and Ortiz. And that's interesting because after Saturday, he'll have fought both of them. We see the comments Ortiz made about Hamill on "Inside MMA." Hamill says the words don't mean anything to him, but the deaf community was upset. Hamill says he doesn't know what a soft head is and the deaf community doesn't even understand. He gets a big kick out of this. Ortiz says he's not going to feel sorry for anything. Hamill says Ortiz is a good wrestler. Ortiz says he taught Hamill everything he knows and Hamill's going to understand that he could've learned a lot more.
Hamill says Ortiz is desperate to win and he's desperate to get his name out there. Ortiz says the only thing Hamill is going to get is famous from fighting Tito Ortiz. Hamill says just watch the fight because he's going to take care of him. He ends with "it's going to be a hell of a fight."
And that's a wrap!
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