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UFC 155: Where Does Cain Velasquez Rank Among All-Time Heavyweight Champions?

On Saturday night, Cain Velasquez recaptured the UFC heavyweight championship by crumbling Junior dos Santos in the main event of UFC 155. The belt represents the AKA member’s status as the greatest heavyweight on the planet.But where does Velasquez ra…

But where does Velasquez rank among the all-time UFC heavyweight champions who have also held this status symbol over the years?

The win kicks off the second reign for Velasquez, who becomes only one of three men to have multiple reigns as undisputed UFC champion. That helps boost him above fighters like Mark Coleman and Big Nog, who only had one reign.

Although Velasquez doesn’t have a successful title defense to his credit like Kevin Randleman or Junior dos Santos, he deserves to be ranked above them based on his record against world-class competition.

That leaves him ranked fifth in my eyes. The previous champions who sit above him in the countdown are Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Brock Lesnar and Randy Couture.
Arlovski is a one-time champion; however, he has two title defenses to his credit, and both came by way of first-round knockout.

Sylvia gets a lot of flack for letting himself go in recent years, but there is no denying his former greatness. Like Velasquez, he has two title reigns, but pulls ahead based on his three title defenses.

While Brock Lesnar also eats a lot of disrespect for the latter performances of his career, there is no questioning the impact he made on the heavyweight division. With a win over Randy Couture to get the belt-plus defenses against interim champions Frank Mir and Shane Carwin, there is little dispute that Velasquez will need some title defenses before his championship legacy is greater than that of Brock.

Ranking at No. 1, Randy Couture pops his head into the countdown. “Captain America” has three separate reigns as heavyweight champion and defended his belts as many times.

In November, I released a power ranking of every champion in UFC history. Using links to some of those slides as illustration, I’ve filtered that list and adjusted the position of Cain based on his UFC 155 win.

You can click any name to see their slide.
15. Josh Barnett
14. Bas Rutten
13. Shane Carwin
12. Big Nog
11. Ricco Rodriguez
10. Mark Coleman
09. Frank Mir
08. Maurice Smith
07. Kevin Randleman
06. Junior dos Santos
05. Cain Velasquez
04. Andrei Arlovski
03. Tim Sylvia
02. Brock Lesnar
01. Randy Couture

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Power Ranking Cain Velasquez’s 5 Best Performances

As we enter 2013, there is a new sheriff of the UFC heavyweight division: Cain Velasquez.Now a 10-fight veteran of the Octagon, Velasquez has defeated the very best that Joe Silva could put in his path, and done so in tremendous fashion. On Saturd…

As we enter 2013, there is a new sheriff of the UFC heavyweight division: Cain Velasquez.

Now a 10-fight veteran of the Octagon, Velasquez has defeated the very best that Joe Silva could put in his path, and done so in tremendous fashion.

On Saturday night, the Mexican stud out of AKA decimated Junior dos Santos in a way that no one had ever dreamed was possible. After all, “Cigano” was 9-0 in the UFC and had previously knocked out Velasquez in only 64 seconds.

The win was impressive to say the least, but how does it stack up to the other performances of Velasquez’s career?

Here is a power ranking of the five best performances in the career of Cain Velasquez.

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Junior Dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez: A Look at the FightMetric Numbers

Statistics can be an effective way of manipulating an audience into thinking something that you want them to. Unless you know what you’re looking at, statistics can be deceptive enough to convince you to believe something other than what you saw with y…

At UFC 155, Cain Velasquez met Junior dos Santos in a five-round beatdown in which most statistics speak for themselves. However, if you’re a fight nerd like me, you’ll enjoy a look at the numbers.

The numbers show us some things that may have been missed. Most notable is the fact that Junior dos Santos actually averaged more than two significant strikes landed per minute of competition. He ultimately scored 57 strikes of this magnitude.

Another surprising statistic comes in the takedown department. With new champion Velasquez scoring an incredible 11 takedowns against Cigano, it’s easy to overlook the fact that Junior shrugged off twice as many.

As the fight went on, Cain began to tire as dos Santos got his second wind. This led to dos Santos being able to fend off attempts on seven of eight occasions.

So what happened to Velasquez that showed a chink in his never-ending-cardio armor?

When we look at the numbers, we can see that the AKA fighter threw a total of 245 strikes in the first three rounds, as well as attempting 19 takedowns in the same period of time.

In terms of totals, one metric jumps out at me: significant strikes.

Over the course of five rounds, Velasquez nearly doubled the successful output of his opponent. Notably, he outscored Junior 42-17 in Round 1 and 24-2 in Round 2.

But in the end, the most important numbers come in written form on the scorecards. Although each member of the panel had a different opinion as to how many 10-8 rounds took place, Velasquez won all five rounds according to each judge.

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Dos Santos vs. Velasquez: Power Ranking the UFC’s 2012 Title Fights

While 2012 might be remembered as the year of the dreaded injury plague, there were lots of magnificent moments and tantalizing title fights to satisfy even the most stubborn of pessimists.At UFC 155, Cain Velasquez captured the UFC heav…

While 2012 might be remembered as the year of the dreaded injury plague, there were lots of magnificent moments and tantalizing title fights to satisfy even the most stubborn of pessimists.

At UFC 155, Cain Velasquez captured the UFC heavyweight championship when he soundly defeated champion Junior dos Santos in the final title fight of 2012. With all of the excitement surrounding the rematch, fans will talk about the contest for years to come.

But how does it match up with the other title fights of 2012?

Here is a look at the UFC’s top 10 title fights of 2012.

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UFC 155 Results: Cain Velasquez Admits He Purposely ‘Slowed Down’ vs. JDS

Practically everyone anticipating the UFC 155 heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos expected an early knockout.Instead, both men stood and traded for five exhausting rounds, with Velasquez getting the better of the former…

Practically everyone anticipating the UFC 155 heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos expected an early knockout.

Instead, both men stood and traded for five exhausting rounds, with Velasquez getting the better of the former champion en route to a unanimous decision victory and a second title reign.

According to Velasquez, though, that was all part of the plan.

In a chat with ESPN during the immediate aftermath of the bout, Velasquez said that he actually had to switch up his tactics after he figured out that the former champion wasn’t going down so easily:

It was hard, you know? I know I hit him with a good shot. When we were down, it was hard. I really wanted to keep a lot of weight on him and keep him down, but also throw a lot of power in my punches. I couldn’t get the amount of power I wanted to knock him out on the ground, it’s very hard to do that. So, I tried to be smart, so once he recovered, [I] kind of slowed it down a bit and tried to take it back down.

Velasquez didn’t manage to get the finish, although he handily won every round of the fight to win back the UFC heavyweight championship belt.

That victory was also punctuated by 11 takedowns (according to Fight Metric), a key element that Velasquez says aided him immensely despite JDS trying to evade the maneuver:

A lot of people were like, “Take him down, take him down.” It’s not like that. If your opponent knows you’re going to take him down right off the bat, then of course he’s going to defend it. But if you throw stuff up top, throw punches and then got to the takedown, it’s a set-up. It makes it so much easier for you.

UFC 155 marks the first time that a heavyweight title fight in the promotion has gone to a decision since UFC 68, where Randy Couture upset the comparatively massive Tim Sylvia.

It was also a rare situation for Velasquez, who hadn’t gone to a decision since a difficult three-round battle against Cheick Kongo at UFC 99 in June 2009. Aside from that bout and UFC 155, Velasquez has scored knockout wins in every single one of his other 10 career fights.

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Nate Marquardt Talks UFC Return, Says “No Hard Feelings” About Getting Cut

Even though former UFC middleweight Nate Marquardt suffered some huge public backlash at the expense of Dana White, he says it’s water under the bridge.During an interview with Karyn Bryant of MMA Heat behind the scenes at UFC 155, Marquardt spoke…

Even though former UFC middleweight Nate Marquardt suffered some huge public backlash at the expense of Dana White, he says it’s water under the bridge.

During an interview with Karyn Bryant of MMA Heat behind the scenes at UFC 155, Marquardt spoke at length about his rocky history with Zuffa and how he feels now that he’s on the verge of returning to his previous Octagon stomping grounds:

Once I signed with Strikeforce, at that point, it was basically in the past because Strikeforce is under the Zuffa banner and so everything that happened in the past stayed there. There’s no hard feelings going forward and I’m grateful for the opportunity and I plan on making the most of it.

Although White has confirmed that several Strikeforce fighters would be rescued from the dying promotion, Marquardt has had a short stint with the San Jose-based company.

Marquardt also seems to have become a new person after dropping a weight class, re-evaluating his health and temporarily floundering:

It was a tough time for sure. First, we signed with BAMMA and had some trouble there with the fight [that] kept getting postponed. And then we had the opportunity to get out of the contract to come over to Strikeforce, so we took it.

In particular, Marquardt also stated that he hasn’t lost any strength or power at welterweight, noting a massive speed advantage in the exchange. Marquardt was last slated to compete in the main event of UFC on Versus 4 against Rick Story, but was handed his walking papers after failing to pass the required physical test due to elevated testosterone levels.

Before Marquardt transfers back to the UFC, he’ll headline Strikeforce’s final event on January 12, 2013 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City.

Originally titled “Strikeforce: Champions” with a main card full of title fights, the headlining bout for the newly-named Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine event is now the only championship bout of the night. Previously, the original schedule was set to feature a mega-event with Strikeforce champions Gilbert Melendez and Luke Rockhold, before both pulled out due to training injuries.

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