I never understood "Sea level Cain"

[ImNotMirsadBektic]

What makes you think he would have won that fight if he had better cardio? The only difference it would have made is him being beaten up for a few more rounds lol. He's a GnP wrestler with mediocre boxing, Werdum would have tooled him in the stand up with his MT or subbed him using his BJJ the same way except for it taking slightly longer to finish him.

Cain literally had nothing to offer to Werdum, he wasn't a powerful striker with decent TDD (Ngannou) or a wrestler with more of a focus on boxing (Miocic). He was a fat, small version of Curtis Blaydes who could GnP strikers with bad TDD (JDS) and wrestlers of similar type as Cain who couldn't stop the takedown (Brock).

He is probably not even in my top 10 all time MMA heavyweights.

 

[rearnakedchoke]

He seemed unstoppable until he fought at altitude. Not much to get.

 

[kellenn]

Look, I don't think Cain was the GOAT or anything but saying he's a shit version of Curtis Blaydes is just flat out wrong

Prime Cain is a tough fight for pretty much everyone ever, not saying he would beat all of them but he had the skills to give anyone a good go.

Even Fedor has praised Cain's abilities and called him the best fighter in the UFC a few years ago

 

[BabyBlue_Bomber]

Velasquez’s best asset was arguably his conditioning...

Had he gassed like that against Dos Santos, it would have been a bad night for him.

 

[boss429]

Look, I don't think Cain was the GOAT or anything but saying he's a shit version of Curtis Blaydes is just flat out wrong

Prime Cain is a tough fight for pretty much everyone ever, not saying he would beat all of them but he had the skills to give anyone a good go.

Even Fedor has praised Cain's abilities and called him the best fighter in the UFC a few years ago

Cain was definitely skilled but he has been drastically over rated over the years with many people bringing him up as HW GOAT simply because his entire legacy is made up of 5 wins against 3 fighters, 2 of which are more often than not referred to as "cans" around here in any discussion not about Cain.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

Werdum spent months living in Mexico at high altitude in prep for the fight

Cain came to Mexico with only 12 days until the fight, he spent barely any time up at the high altitude where they were fighting. Flyweights like Cejudo were also gassed and exhausted in round 3 in Mexico, flyweights!.

So yeah thats where the sea level Cain stuff comes from. But this is not a excuse because its his own fault, he was arrogant thinking he can just go there and be the same as always, when you clearly need time to prep for it, hence flyweights exhausted on the card.

 

[Post 2 Decision]

Werdum was a nightmare matchup for Cain, it was easy money


Prime Werdum had underrated stand up, nasty clinchwork, and obviously wasn't worried about getting taken down

 

[HHJ]

Who cares,its fun to say.
Its like Chuck with that look in his eye.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Cain beat the living shit out of JDS for 25 minutes twice.

Prime JDS cleanly beat a nearly prime Stipe over 25 minutes.

Nonsense thread is nonsense.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Werdum was a nightmare matchup for Cain, it was easy money


Prime Werdum had underrated stand up, nasty clinchwork, and obviously wasn't worried about getting taken down

This was what many people said before the last two Overeem fights.

 

[fenway926]

He seemed unstoppable until he fought at altitude. Not much to get.

and then he broke every bone in his body, twice, every damn time. and his latino was subpar to Fabrick Wordham. What a pity.

 

[Anaconda99]

Werdum is just a bad matchup for Cain. Especially on the ground. Cain would wear you down and beat the shit out of people but thats the perfect thing for a high level BJJ fighter it leaves a lot of openings. The sea level shit is half serious anyway like motivated Penn, Chuck with that look in his eye and so on.

 

[Johnnny]

What makes you think he would have won that fight if he had better cardio? The only difference it would have made is him being beaten up for a few more rounds lol. He's a GnP wrestler with mediocre boxing, Werdum would have tooled him in the stand up with his MT or subbed him using his BJJ the same way except for it taking slightly longer to finish him.

Cain literally had nothing to offer to Werdum, he wasn't a powerful striker with decent TDD (Ngannou) or a wrestler with more of a focus on boxing (Miocic). He was a fat, small version of Curtis Blaydes who could GnP strikers with bad TDD (JDS) and wrestlers of similar type as Cain who couldn't stop the takedown (Brock).

He is probably not even in my top 10 all time MMA heavyweights.

Mediocre boxing... wasn't a powerful striker... that honestly sounds much more like Werdum than Cain.

By the way, elite wrestling defeats elite BJJ in modern MMA much more often than the other way around. But cardio is necessary to wrestle, hence "Sea level Cain."

 

[Nelly]

Cain did beat Werdum by a fair margin in the first round when both of their gas tanks were full.

You are simplifying Cain's skills. Cain didn't really GnP JDS to beat him. He mainly won by boxing in close range with forward pressure and clinching. And JDS has an 81% TD def. Not exactly bad by any means. Blaydes was 0/6 in his attempts and Cain was 13/46 in the 2nd and 3rd fight. The high numbers of TDs also means JDS usually gets up when he is taken down. It also showed how great Cain's cardio was to attempt that many.

But I do agree that his resume at HW isn't deep enough to be considered as one of the GOAT HWs, and people greatly exaggerate his ranking and skills because of his performances against one fighter in JDS. His skills may be better than JDS, but I would argue that JDS has a better resume so therefore he is higher on the GOAT HW list. People also use his injuries as an excuse to justify that he was the best HW ever when he was healthy.

 

[dildos]

Yeah this was a bullshit myth Cain fanboys created.

cain was always over hyped and over rated. Barely top 10 heavyweight all time.

 

[cunglaowins]

It showed that he’s not really Mexican. You’re supposed to be better when you’re in your native country. He’s just Taco Bell.

 

[HHJ]

Werdum is just a bad matchup for Cain. Especially on the ground. Cain would wear you down and beat the shit out of people but thats the perfect thing for a high level BJJ fighter it leaves a lot of openings. The sea level shit is half serious anyway like motivated Penn, Chuck with that look in his eye and so on.

He negates cains clinch game with the thai plumb too

 

[Anaconda99]

He negates cains clinch game with the thai plumb too

Agreed. Cain beats most HW of his time but Werdum is a tough ask not that he is chanceless but style wise probably worst matchup for him in the division.

 

[mmacrisis]

If your fight is at altitude you know this ahead of time, so you need to prepare for it. It is part of the fight, just like the weight cut, and other aspects of training. If Cain didn't train for the environment he was going to fight in then that is his fault.

Cain was a good HW but the best, definitely not, but times change and he was always injured. The division just moved past him.

 

[R.Doria]

it's a joke, buddy...