Cain Velasquez built his reputation on ferocious pressure and unmatched endurance. Known as “Cardio Cain,” he would overwhelm rivals with his pace, whether striking or wrestling. His breakthrough came in 2010 when he stopped Brock Lesnar in one round to capture the heavyweight title. Though he briefly lost it to Junior dos Santos, Velasquez reclaimed the belt in their rematch and defended it twice more, cementing himself as one of the most feared champions of his era.
Daniel Cormier calls him the best heavyweight
For Daniel Cormier, who trained alongside Velasquez at American Kickboxing Academy, his teammate stood apart from everyone else in the division.
“The best. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Cormier told Aljamain Sterling. “I still today have not seen anything like it. The training, the skill set, the ability — he really could do it all. If he didn’t have all those injuries, he would be by far the greatest heavyweight of all time. No one could have beaten him.”
Cormier even admitted that Velasquez’s presence at the top forced him to drop down to light heavyweight early in his UFC career, showing just how highly he regarded Cain’s dominance.
Work ethic turned into downfall
Ironically, what fueled Velasquez’s greatness also led to his undoing. Cormier described how Cain’s unmatched drive pushed him past healthy limits in training.
“He was one of those kids that had nothing. He had so little that when he would get mixed up with people, no matter what they told him to do, he would do. If the strength coach told him to leg press 800 pounds, he did it! He just did everything, he was a monster. He just worked and worked and worked, and he worked himself into injury after injury.”
Those injuries piled up, robbing Velasquez of his explosiveness and keeping him sidelined for long stretches. By the time he retired in 2019 after a knockout loss to Francis Ngannou, his body had absorbed too much wear and tear to continue competing at the elite level.
Since leaving competition, Velasquez stayed involved in MMA through coaching, though his post-fight years have been overshadowed by legal issues. In 2022, he was arrested for the shooting of Harry Goularte, an accused child molester, and later sentenced to five years in prison for attempted murder. If parole is granted, Velasquez could be released as early as March 2026.
Despite his shortened career and personal struggles, Cain Velasquez remains one of the most respected heavyweights in UFC history. In Cormier’s eyes, the verdict is simple: without injuries, Velasquez would have surpassed every heavyweight who came before or after him.
