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Will Cain Velasquez Reach His Potential Against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira At UFC 110?

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By Kelvin Hunt

Minotauro Nogueira headshot

VS

Cain Velasquez headshot

 

Minotauro Nogueira   Cain Velasquez
53%   47%
 
Total Votes
10908
That's the way the voters at ufc.com have it, and the odds on this fight basically have it as even for the most part.  There are a lot of variables in this fight and Rich Wyatt so eloquently touched on some of these earlier.  Let's take a closer look at these after the jump.

SBN coverage of UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez

Experience:  This isn't even close as Nogueira is the second best HW is ALL time, behind Fedor of course.  Nogueira has been in there with the best of the best and has seen it all.  I don't think there's anything that Velasquez can bring to the table that Noguiera hasn't seen before with well over thirty fights on his resume, compared to 7 for Velasquez.

Striking: Both guys have striking ability, with Nogueira being the more polished of the two.  Neither have big KO power, but as Rich said Nogueira is great and countering.  So it'll be interesting to see how this part of the fight goes.  I actually think Nogueira should be able to win this phase of the fight.

Ground/Wrestling:  Velasquez is the much better wrestler, but that's no biggie since Nogueira has a huge edge in BJJ.  Nogueira was able to sweep a very experienced and great wrestler in Randy Couture twice.  I wonder if he would be able to do the same to the younger more explosive Velasquez?  If he takes Nogueira down will his just stay in his guard or will he actively try to pass?

Cardio:  None issue for both fighters as both have good gas tanks  

Intangibles: Will Velasquez wilt under the pressure of fighting one of the greatest of all time in his first main event?  If caught in a submission will Velasquez hit the panic button? 

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