Saturday will mark former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez’s return to the Octagon after ignominiously losing the title via first-round knockout to Junior Dos Santos.
During this landmark card taking place at UFC 146 in Las Vegas, he will face-off against Antonio “Big Foot” Silva, who is also coming off a knockout loss in the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament.
Both men have everything to prove, with Velasquez the “heavy” favourite. He was undefeated until his unexpected loss to Dos Santos in November, with many still considering him the number one heavyweight in the world.
So what does he have to do to overcome the acromegalic Silva? Let’s start with where Cain’s AKA teammate Daniel Cormier left off.
Out-box Silva
He may be a giant man with a huge reach, but Silva’s stand-up has been left wanting time and time again. Cormier, who entered MMA with a wrestling background and is relatively new to the striking game, was able to drop Bigfoot several times in their match, before putting him away with a mean right toward the end of the first round.
Cormier was six inches shorter than Silva, but was able to get in on the inside and counter him with explosive shots, which the Brazilian had no answer to.
Even against Emelianenko, where Silva had one of his most dominant fights in his career, a few minutes standing and trading with the diminutive Russian left him rushing to take the fight to the mat.
As Velasquez trains alongside Cormier, and has proven knockout power of his own, he would do well to keep the fight standing and try and finish it on his feet.
Use his wrestling to keep it standing
Velasquez is a NCAA Division I All-American with some of the best wrestling in MMA. One of the best ways he can use this skill against Silva is to keep the fight standing.
When he’s in trouble, Silva, a BJJ black belt, always tries to take the fight to the mat. He’ll have a tough time bringing Velasquez down if the stand-up starts going against him, giving the former champion the perfect opportunity to dictate where the fight takes place.
With Silva’s high level jiu-jitsu, Velasquez will not want to get involved in a ground skirmish with the big man. He could follow Cormier’s blueprint against Barnett from last week—utilising his wrestling to put Silva on his back when he needs to, disrupting his opponent’s momentum, wearing him down and picking him apart with strikes.
Look for the finish
Velasquez has some of the most powerful punches in the division, and Silva has been knocked out twice in his career. We saw the Brazilian’s questionable chin during his fight against Cormier, and you can expect Cain to mete out the same punishment.
But the former champion should be in no rush to finish the fight. Rushing with punches could easily lead to him getting caught like he did against Dos Santos. Velasquez has one of the biggest gas tanks of all heavyweights, and he can go multiple rounds without skipping a heartbeat.
If he sticks to his game and stays patient, the knockout opportunity will come, and it will be lights out for Silva soon enough.
Stick to the game plan
Cormier and Velasquez have developed similar styles, which gives Silva a hint as to what to expect on Saturday and Velasquez a blueprint for the finish.
Now it’s a simple case of executing the programme and hoping that Silva learned nothing in the eight months since his last loss. One can hope…
Find out if it all goes to plan on Saturday 10 p.m. ET.
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