When Cain Velasquez defends his UFC heavyweight championship against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva at UFC 160, he will do so under a new eight-fight UFC contract.
Velasquez still had three fights left on his current deal, but UFC president Dana White told the assembled media at UFC 157’s media scrum that, “We just signed a new eight-fight deal with Cain Velasquez. We re-signed him. I didn’t have to do that. He deserved it, and we did it.”
Velasquez joined the UFC in 2008 with only two professional bouts on his record. Both of those pre-UFC fights ended in the first round with Velasquez earning a TKO in each bout.
That streak of TKO victories carried over into the Octagon as Velasquez stopped his first three UFC opponents in that manner. He would go the distance in his fourth UFC bout, earning a unanimous-decision win over Cheick Kongo at UFC 99, before once again racking up two more TKO wins and earning himself a shot at then UFC heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar.
Velasquez used his heavy hands and a bit of patience to TKO Lesnar and earn UFC gold. However, he would not hold the title long, losing in a mere 64 seconds to Junior dos Santos at UFC on Fox 1.
Velasquez got right back on the TKO horse in his next bout, bloodying Antonio Silva at UFC 146 and setting up a rematch against dos Santos—a rematch that he won—brutalizing dos Santos over five rounds with heavy leather.
The extension makes sense for the UFC as Velasquez is wildly popular, and with the UFC looking to make moves into Mexico this year, the promotion will no doubt be looking to use the promotion’s first Mexican-American champion in selling the sport in that country.
UFC 160 is scheduled to take place on May 25 in Las Vegas, NV.
**All quotes obtained firsthand by Bleacher Report MMA.
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