Cain Velasquez teased a crossover into the professional wrestling arena last year, and now it’s about to become official.
The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion of the world will take part in a six-man tag team match for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide on Aug. 3 in Mexico City, Mexico.
ESPN’s Marc Raimondi has the scoop.
“Cain Velasquez makes his pro-wrestling debut at TripleMania on Aug. 3 in Mexico City. Announced at a AAA press conference today: Velasquez will be teaming with Cody Rhodes in a six-man tag team match.”
Sure, it’s not World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) or even All Elite Wrestling (AEW), but everyone has to start somewhere. AAA does have a working partnership with both organizations, so don’t be too surprised to see Cain make the jump into one of those bigger leagues in the future.
After a near 2.5 year hiatus, Velasquez made his long-waited return to the UFC Octagon earlier this year at UFC on ESPN 1, though he was quickly dispatched by Francis Ngannou via a 26-second knockout (see it). Since that fateful night in February, Cain has been relatively quite on the MMA front.
He did sign a new UFC deal prior to the fight, so him bolting for wrestling full time isn’t in the cards just yet. Since 2015, Cain has only been able to fight three times as he was consistently sidelined with injury.
Cain joins several former MMA champions such as Ken Shamrock and Ronda Rousey who have jumped into the ring to show of their skills after extensive careers in MMA.