How good was Cain Velasquez?

[NoBiasJustMMA]

He was very good but also overrated. He never grappled with anyone in MMA that had a good submission game other than Werdum who submitted him seconds after the fight hit the floor.

He was able to dominate most people in the clinch and on the ground but he never really fought anyone with a strong clinch game either other than Werdum.

Almost everyone Cain fought had a glaring weakness in the clinch or in wrestling that he was able to exploit. I don't think Cain would have done nearly as well in Pride where it was more common for fighters to have submission games as well as decent clinch games.

 

[Hitdepruns]

Tha

No head mouvement, striking very basic and got exposed by Kongo ,JDS 1,Werdum ,Ngannou ..
He fought no real competition and he is overated as Fuck for his win over 3 guys basicallyhe would get murked by today's HWs (Stipe Gane Frank Aspinall ..)

[/QUOTE

Im glad you remember that fight.... I dont know how Kongo didnt finish that.

 

[Fight Professor]

Cain is one of the few HW fighters who could destroy anyone standing, in the clinch or on the floor.

If he were to train smarter and not close distance with his chin in the air, Cain could have been the GOAT.

And the cardio he had shown in the JDS 2 fight by spamming takedowns straight for several rounds is unmatched even in lighter weight classes.

 

[Stand N Bland]

The 2nd most talented HW ever behind Overeem. Not saying he was the best, but he certainly had all the skills and athleticism to go with it.

 

[Dionysian]

Prime Cain steamrolls Ngannou or Gane quite easily, exposes today's HW for the comedy act that it is, and ends this "super duper athlete" bullshit marketing point quicker than it started.

 

[Kazuky]

I think prime Cain was the best HW ever. Look at that combo he landed on Nogueira. Look at how easily he handled Lesnar. Look at how he absolutely vandalized Big Foot. Look at how he raped prime JDS twice. You couldn't get any worse match up for Cain than a super fast big hw with great hands tons of power and incredible defensive wrestling, and he still took his innocense.

He got hurt really bad and never fully recovered, but young, healthy Cain was an unstoppable force of nature. Look at how he escaped from below Lesnar. Look at how he popped right back up when Lesnar pulled his legs. It was like watching a cat. Look at his chin, his heart, his composure against JDS, for five rounds, under constant denger and full pressure. Look at how Kongo rocked him twice and he just kept moving forward and executed his plan, like a terminator.

You, see, you actually gotta watch him fight in order to understand. Cain was just incredible on all levels. I truly believe that if he hadn't gotten hurt he would be the greatest HW of all time.

The best fight HW we never saw wasn't Fedor vs Cain or whatever. Cain would homosexualize him for 5 rounds against the fence. The best fight we never saw was Strikeforce DC vs Prime Cain. The Daniel Cormier who clowned Barnett would have been an amazing opponent for Cain.

 

[X Factor]

Great but perhaps not as great as some of the hype, I think he matched up well with JDS who was vunerable to being pushed back and clinched

Cains big issue for me is that defensively I don't think he was ever very good, besides Werdum, JDS the 1st time, Ngannou and Kongo a lot of other opponents like Rothwell and old Nog were landing on him very easily. He tended to rush forward without really having great timing, offencively he was clearly fast and dangerous but he was hittable and I think a longer career against a wider range of opponents that would have been exploited by some of them.

I think Cain had trouble with opening up in the pocket/overcommitted on exchanges in his early fights but by the time he fought big nog he had shown leaps of improvement. He was actually pretty good with his defense later in his career.

I have to disagree with him being hit easily though Big Nog, Rothwell and Ngannou totaled 9 significant strikes all together against Cain on the feet according to compustrike

 

[WHITE ANDERSON]

cain was so hyped but DC was actually way better than him

it's crazy to me that DC sabotaged his career for his teammate for so long but i guess it only adds to his legacy ot being a two weight class champ

 

[Black Paladin]

No head mouvement, striking very basic and got exposed by Kongo ,JDS 1,Werdum ,Ngannou ..
He fought no real competition and he is overated as Fuck for his win over 3 guys basicallyhe would get murked by today's HWs (Stipe Gane Frank Aspinall ..)

Yeah, he did him dirty when he put Aspinall's random ass on the end of that list.

 

[Deleted member 110072]

I think Cain had trouble with opening up in the pocket/overcommitted on exchanges in his early fights but by the time he fought big nog he had shown leaps of improvement. He was actually pretty good with his defense later in his career.

I have to disagree with him being hit easily though Big Nog, Rothwell and Ngannou totaled 9 significant strikes all together against Cain on the feet according to compustrike

None of those fights really had prolonged exchnages in them either due to finishes or Cain shifting to grappling with Rothwell but him and Nog did find it fairly easy to land on him

Offensively he was a fast and powerful boxer as you can see from the Nog KO but defensively I wouldnt rate him that highly as an all time great HW, he did tend to bullrush opponents looking to force openings and didnt really have great head movement.

JDS's big weakness wasnt just that his defence was poor when he was backed up but also that he didnt really have dependable counters to aggression, Cain neutralized him by constantly pushing forward staying inside the range of his looping punches. Those tactics used against other elite HW's who had better counter games I see being much more dangerous.

Grappling wise I'm not sure you can say the Werdum fight shows he was definately vunerable as by the time the sub happened he was very beaten up/gassed and got caught in a lazy takedown but the fact he didnt feel he could take Werdum down does seem to reveal he didnt have confidence in his own grappling against him.

I do think as well that fight really explosed why Cain was able to show such good cardio vs JDS, those rematches were basically Cain commiting to a few exchanges and then fence clinching to rest but Werdums thai plum forced him to break off so he couldnt rest, thats the main reason he gassed IMHO.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Fedor is the greatest HW ever in his prime, by resume and sheer variety of competition.

Cain Velasquez is the best ever in his prime, by a very slim margin.

When Cain was in his prime and without injuries he was the most dominant HW in the history of the sport. Period.

He was the HW Khabib, and Khabib even admits he modeled his fighting style after Cain, except Cain's striking was far far better than Khabib's, but Khabib had better takedowns and overall better grappling.

What separates Cain from every other HW is his endurance... even Fedor. After Cain destroyed Lesnar within four minutes he looked like he wasn't even tired, and he had trained to do exactly what he had done in under four minutes for the entire 25-minute length of the fight.

Cain was a machine, and I doubt we'll ever see such a monster at HW for a very very long time.

For every young MMA fighter that knows what weight class they're going to be in, for the HWs, Cain Velasquez should be their model to become and eventually surpass.

 

[mikesalami]

This should answer you question...

 

[Gambit MMA]

great cardio, kickboxing, and wrestling. just a shame we didn't see him vs more opponents.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

This should answer you question...

This 13-minute video is pure facts and educated opinion backed up by facts.

Unfortunately, most people don't have the patience to watch a 13 minute video.

 

[Pierced7681]

He’s the Mario Lemieux of MMA, most physically talented of all time but just couldn’t stay healthy enough to become the goat.

 

[X Factor]

None of those fights really had prolonged exchnages in them either due to finishes or Cain shifting to grappling with Rothwell but him and Nog did find it fairly easy to land on him

Offensively he was a fast and powerful boxer as you can see from the Nog KO but defensively I wouldnt rate him that highly as an all time great HW, he did tend to bullrush opponents looking to force openings and didnt really have great head movement.

JDS's big weakness wasnt just that his defence was poor when he was backed up but also that he didnt really have dependable counters to aggression, Cain neutralized him by constantly pushing forward staying inside the range of his looping punches. Those tactics used against other elite HW's who had better counter games I see being much more dangerous.

Grappling wise I'm not sure you can say the Werdum fight shows he was definately vunerable as by the time the sub happened he was very beaten up/gassed and got caught in a lazy takedown but the fact he didnt feel he could take Werdum down does seem to reveal he didnt have confidence in his own grappling against him.

I do think as well that fight really explosed why Cain was able to show such good cardio vs JDS, those rematches were basically Cain commiting to a few exchanges and then fence clinching to rest but Werdums thai plum forced him to break off so he couldnt rest, thats the main reason he gassed IMHO.

I personally am a Cain fan so I hold him in high regard as far as all time HWs. I think he really did patch up some of his holes later on and again personally I don’t think I would categorize him as easily hittable in those fights in particular mainly because he just wasn’t touched very much. Yes a lot of that is thanks to the threat of the takedown I’m not saying he’s a defensive wizard but against Nog and Rothwell especially they just couldn’t hit him. They each landed 3 punches in those fights.
Cain was too fast and mixed it up too well.

as far as the Werdum fight Cain won the first round and in the clinch he didn’t really get fazed in the first. He pressed and landed well. even landed a couple takedowns if my memory serves me correct. Going into round two Cain was already gassed absolutely huffing a puffing and I believe that’s the reason werdum got him so easily in the clinch from there on. Also I would add that Cain was coming off a near two year lay off and was at a point were it was fight or get stripped. I think Cain was just straight up out of shape for that fight and underprepared. I would have loved to have seen them rematch but Cains back was shot. Again disclaimer I’m a big Cain fan

 

[Deleted member 110072]

I personally am a Cain fan so I hold him in high regard as far as all time HWs. I think he really did patch up some of his holes later on and again personally I don’t think I would categorize him as easily hittable in those fights in particular mainly because he just wasn’t touched very much. Yes a lot of that is thanks to the threat of the takedown I’m not saying he’s a defensive wizard but against Nog and Rothwell especially they just couldn’t hit him. They each landed 3 punches in those fights.
Cain was too fast and mixed it up too well.

as far as the Werdum fight Cain won the first round and in the clinch he didn’t really get fazed in the first. He pressed and landed well. even landed a couple takedowns if my memory serves me correct. Going into round two Cain was already gassed absolutely huffing a puffing and I believe that’s the reason werdum got him so easily in the clinch from there on. Also I would add that Cain was coming off a near two year lay off and was at a point were it was fight or get stripped. I think Cain was just straight up out of shape for that fight and underprepared. I would have loved to have seen them rematch but Cains back was shot. Again disclaimer I’m a big Cain fan

The Werdum fight does I think show pretty clearly he didnt patch those holes up though, he really doesnt have an answer to a good jab and kept on walking into it.

He just about won the 1st round vs Werdum via activity but he had to work VERY hard to do it. Again I think the difference compared to JDS is that each time he clinched Werdum into the cage looking for a rest he would hook up the thai plum and Cain needed to back off out of the clinch to break it then had to keep on working with no rest, thats happening very early in the fight. Werdum isnt actually landing much with the thai plum but he's forcing Cain to disengage in the clinch.

 

[WOLVERINEKILLS]

Cain was a very good heavyweight but not great. I think injuries and fighting Bigfoot twice & JDS a third time when unnecessary hurt his legacy. What if he fought Overeem and fought Stipe instead? I think that would have made for a more impressive resume had he won, and erased a lot of questions we ask now.

 

[Miokink026]

Legacy wise? Fedor's the HW GOAT, Miocic's the runner up.

Ability wise? Most likely: prime Cain would lose to prime Fedor and beat prime Miocic. Funny, I consider prime Miocic to be from first Ngannou fight to second Ngannou fight. IMO he more skilled in those fights than in any of the fights he had during his athletic prime and since the guy's my favorite fighter, trust me, I know what I'm talking about.

 

[Deleted member 110072]

I think Cain's style has always tended to be the harshest on fighters, probably the most similar elite guy to him is Shogun in Pride and we saw the issues he had where he needed to shift style in the UFC. I'm guessing the killer is really those relentless takedowns/clinchs which in MMA tend to mean your often putting your body in very unnatural positions, exploiting opponents being off balance striking to go for takedowns in positions that would happen in normal wrestling that are likely to cause injuries.