Issue 129
June 2015
The long-awaited heavyweight title unification fight between Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum heads to UFC 188, but who will emerge with the belt?
After injury sabotaged their last scheduled fight, the world’s top two heavyweights are finally set to face off again for a champion vs. champion showdown in Mexico City. The stakes couldn’t be higher.
In one corner, Cain Velasquez will be carrying the hopes of the home crowd. The Mexican-American bulldozer is the bookies’ favorite, and with good reason. He has left a trail of destruction in his wake since arriving in the UFC seven years ago. Each of his wins has come courtesy of a relentless onslaught of offense. Whether a fight lasts a minute or goes the distance, there’s no let-up.
Velasquez’s only loss – by KO against Junior dos Santos – was emphatically avenged, twice, with some of the most incredible beatdowns seen inside the eight walls of the Octagon. There’s a reason why UFC president Dana White calls him ‘The Terminator’. The 32-year-old does not stop until he has beaten his opponents into a bloody mess.
But Fabricio Werdum knows a thing or two about upsetting the odds. The Brazilian shattered the aura of invincibility around the previous consensus top heavyweight in the world, Fedor Emelianenko. The 37-year-old will hope to lure his next opponent into the same tangled web of submissions as the former Pride demigod.
‘Vai Cavalo’ is no one-hit wonder though. Since he returned to the UFC in 2012 he cemented his reputation as MMA’s greatest ever submission artist by tapping Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, then earned a title shot with an outstanding victory over Travis Browne. He captured the interim belt by showing off spectacular striking and landing a flying knee to KO Mark Hunt.
Fighters Only has recruited another triumvirate of elite MMA trainers to discuss the finer points of the upcoming fight and decide who will leave Mexico City with all the marbles.
FO speaks to three of the best coaches in the business to get their thoughts and predictions ahead of the biggest matchups in the world of mixed martial arts
BJJ
William Abreu
Two-time IBJJF no-gi world champion
“Many people don’t know how great Fabricio Werdum is. He’s beaten some of the top players in jiu-jitsu. Since he got into the MMA scene in 2002 he’s been able to refine his jiu-jitsu to fit the MMA world. So he’s got size, a great submission-grappling pedigree and he’s shown it’s effective.
“Cain Velasquez has been in the UFC for years at the highest level of the sport, so his game has been refined also. We haven’t been able to see his jiu-jitsu because they usually play him against strikers, so we already know his takedowns and striking are already up to par.
“He’s always pushing forward and usually ends up on top. Werdum will probably be able to make that a weak point because he’s very good off of his back. Velasquez likes to be on top, but with Fabricio’s long legs you know he’s going to be very comfortable on the ground. He’s very good at capitalizing on the smallest mistakes and bringing the fight into his world.
“That being said, Velasquez has the sort of athleticism and agility you rarely see in a grappler. He doesn’t have the same pedigree as Werdum in terms of submission grappling, but you don’t get to where he’s at and not have very good jiu-jitsu.
“I’m going to go with Velasquez. He’s so relentless that he’ll be able to decide where the fight goes.”
WINNER: CAIN VELASQUEZ
STRIKING
Edmond Tarverdyan
Head coach at Glendale Fight Club
“I love that Cain puts a lot of punches together. He has a lot of heart and is very consistent with the amount of strikes he throws. You don’t see that a lot in the heavyweight division. We’ve seen that he has power in his strikes but when he’s not doing that he’s still throwing a lot of punches.
“As for Fabricio, he’s obviously getting much better with his striking and we saw that when he fought Travis (Browne). I look forward to having that rematch one day. However, Fabricio was getting caught with a lot of punches from Mark Hunt during their fight. Yes, he landed the knee but if you look at how that fight was going he didn’t look as good as he should’ve. He was getting caught with that overhand right and it dropped him.
“Striking-wise I’m going to have to go with Cain for this fight.”
WINNER: CAIN VELASQUEZ
WRESTLING
Jamie Franco
Wrestling coach at Longo-Weidman MMA
“The heavyweights are always a tricky one. You’ve got one guy in Cain who is a great wrestler and then you’ve got Fabricio who will want this fight on the ground. On paper, Fabricio shouldn’t be able to take Cain down but that doesn’t mean he won’t be able to take him down.
“If Fabricio is going to get the fight to the ground, he’s going to need to set up his takedowns with strikes. You’re not going to take down a good wrestler just by shooting in.
“I see it happen all the time in sparring sessions. We’ll bring in a Division I wrestler for sparring and he’ll be facing an MMA fighter who is able to get takedowns because he does a better job of committing to the takedowns at the right time. I think the timing of the takedown is going to be huge for this fight.
“If either guy is able to slip their punches and find a small opening, we’ll see a lot of high-level single-legs without them having to commit too much and overextend themselves. In that matchup, this is going to be the biggest thing.
“Also, wrestlers can control the action and Cain will have a choice as to where the fight takes place. If he wants to keep it standing then it’ll stay standing, but if he feels comfortable on the floor he’ll take it to the ground.
“I can see Cain faking to take him down and then landing some strikes. Us wrestlers stick together so I’m going to go with Cain for this fight.”
WINNER: CAIN VELASQUEZ
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