Viva Velasquez!

It was only recently that I got interested in mixed martial arts and no, I don’t actively do the sport, but do follow matches on TV. I find it less brutal than boxing considering the three 5-minute rounds and the way the refs jump in between fighters when they see the daylights beaten out of one fighter.

Last Sunday’s UFC 110 was a good one. The light-heavy match between veteran Keith Jardine and season 8 winner of the “The Ultimate Fighter” Ryan Bader reached the third round but with a thunderous left hook a bit later, Bader knocked Jardine out.

A very technical middleweight match was shown by Wanderlei Silva and Michael Bisping. With all the prior trash talk, people expected a furious exchange of punches between the two. In the end, Silva came out victorious with a unanimous decision. This is such a face-altering sport that Silva recently had plastic surgery to remove scar tissues that blocks breathing passages in his nose.

The main event was so quick that I even got stunned. With just 2:20 in to the first round, heavyweight Cain Velasquez dropped former champion Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira to the canvass with a sick 1-2-3 combination and following it with five more punches while Minotauro was flat on his back. I didn’t expect Nogueira to go down that easy.

The unusually soft-spoken Velasquez improved his MMA record to 8-0 in his first major challenge, in the process putting himself into contention for the title currently held by Brock Lesnar.

Who is Cain Velasquez? The son of Mexican immigrants, his family lived the hard life, working the fields in Yuma, Arizona. As a teenager, Cain picked watermelons from 7 in the morning till 5 in the afternoon. It was tough and the sun was hot but this was the basis for Cain’s work ethic which he brought with him to this day, making him one of the sport’s most well-conditioned fighters.

He didn’t like the long and hard days in the fields but his family didn’t have any choices. His parents, seeing his potential and determination, decided that they send Cain to school. He didn’t disappoint and went on to be one of Kofa High School’s best athletes in the school’s history, winning two state championships in wrestling. As a senior, Cain was captain of both the wrestling and football team and was good enough as a lineman that Division I colleges recruited him.

At Arizona State, Cain graduated with a degree in education, at the same time immersing himself in the gym, becoming a two-time All-American wrestling. He decided to be a pro MMA fighter and learned quickly.

From the searing fields of Arizona to the unforgiving canvass of the octagon, Cain Velasquez has come a long, hard way. Cain is relatively new to the sport but he has proven that he’s a legitimate championship material.

The end of March will have UFC 111 featuring Frank Mir and Shane Carwin for the interim title. Returning from his illness, Lesnar will be waiting for the winner of this match come July or August. If either Mir or Carwin can’t fight Brock because of health issues or for some other reasons, Velasquez will have his shot.

Mir, Carwin or Velasquez to fight Brock, I won’t miss this.

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