Cain Velasquez's Legacy: How Will You Remember "Cardio Cain"?

[datfnguy]

The injury prone guy who beat Lesner.

 

[SKITZADACTYL]

overrated and injured.

 

[GrantB13]

Generally positive. Not HW goat but if he could've kept up appearances then he maybe

 

[Summoning]

Glass journeyman

 

[ufcfan4]

He was a great champ but is another case of Dom Cruz where it’s almost as though you have to think, “what could have been?”

Weird to hear his mma career is over. He’d been gone for such long stretches that it is not a shocker but it’s just crazy to think he’s retired.

I think the Lesnar fight will always jump out to me. Cain was in full on beast mode in that fight. That moment where Brock got him down and Cain almost instantaneously popped back up was insane.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Unfortunately I'll remember him most for having 17 fights in a 13 year career with 5 of those fights being against the same two people.

Making Brock panic-roll is second place.

 

[blurple]

Cain was an exciting killer who fought nearly twice a year in his prime, he should have been on the juice so his career lasted longer.

 

[JKS]

I will remember Cain as a "could've been" Not to discount his accomplishments and career, he achieved some great things and was one of the greatest UFC HWs ever. But with his skills and ability I feel he could have been more and the clear best UFC HW ever, possibly overall best HW. We all know injuries and inactivity ruined his career. I know I am looking at the negative side more than positive with Cain, but that part of it just overshadows everything else for me. By his 14th fight he was already a two time UFC champion and had two title defenses and that was in 2013. If he stayed healthy and kept on that pace I think he would have achieved great things.

 

[Taric]

He fought like twice. Who even remembers

 

[TheLinguist]

I’ll remember him as an American whom the UFC PAID TO STUDY SPANISH

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

Highest peak along with Fed

Yah, at his best there weren't any better. But his peak was JohnyHendricks-level short. Injuries did to his career what burritos did to Johny Hendricks.

 

[BasicKOfromBottom]

He was never that good.

 

[BoTyson]

He was a absolute animal, and in his period was the best heavyweight we had seen, i think only Cormier and Stipe are probably better than him.

His chin was always suspect but his cardio and wrestling would make up for it, he was a grinding machine.

 

[315MMAFighter]

Sea level Cain all day

 

[Claude]

Simply the best UFC HW ever.

Not the most accomplished or consistent (due to injuries), but skill-wise when he was at the top of his game he was above anybody else.

 

[X Factor]

I don’t know if sherdog loses context on any fighters career more than Cain’s. People who don’t think he was one of the best are blind. He was like Khabib at HW for a period of time. he beat JDS when they were the 2 best HWs in the world. his resume is so much better than people give him credit for

 

[Merman]

100% this. As a Fedor nuthugger Cain is the only HW who imo ever posed a significant threat in a hypothetical prime h2h matchup

Agreed. I'd go with Prime Fedor due to hand speed and GnP but Prime Cain would have the best chance of anybody. Actually Prime Nog who took the Fedor GnP vs Prime Cain woulda been awesome!

 

[Deleted member 551049]

I'll remember him as the dude who derailed his better training partner Cormier's career by holding HW hostage and fucking the division up for everyone.

Glad he's gone, one of the most overrated fighters in history. His best wins were over a shot Nog, diverticulitis Lesnar and JDS, who he happened to be a terrible matchup for and still managed to lose one of their 3 fights. He was very talented and capable of doing more, but all that GOAT was always fucking laughable. All you have to do is look at his record and see what happened when he fought elite HWs, when they were healthy and still in their prime. That happened 5 times and he lost 3 of those fights, with the 2 wins being over JDS.

 

[Kinger85]

Healthy Cain is one of my all time MMA What ifs.

A great fighter, but I wonder how great he could have been if he was not so injury prone. I'm assuming he would be up in the GOAT conversation if he had stayed healthy.

 

[Bboy]

I got into MMA in 2009, so i was there for his rise. But unfortunately as of right now, I’m remembering him for the latter end of his career, never making it to the cage.