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Fitch claims Cain Velasquez fought Junior dos Santos with a badly injured knee

Fitch claims Cain Velasquez fought Junior dos Santos with a badly injured knee

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Now Jon Fitch, one of Cain's teammates at the American Kickboxing Academy is telling Tatame.com that Velasquez fought injured (translation via FiveKnuckles.com):

"I think that in the first fight, he did't show everything he could do. He had a severe knee injury, and was limited by what he could do, but it was such an important fight so he couldn't miss it. It was important for the company, for the fans and for the world. He continued, even knowing that he should not. He went against the advice of everyone on the team, and doctors, but pulling from the card was not an option at the time. It will be very different with him being able to show all his tools. He was hurt and thinking about his knee. He wanted to kick the legs of Junior, but he was thinking, 'I can't kick.' When your head is not in the fight, you get hurt."

Jon Fitch claims Cain Velasquez fought Junior dos Santos with a badly injured knee - Bloody Elbow

*Was it not known Cain had an injured knee. I think he was even talking about it and how they could not pull out of the first Fox show.

But, with that said, Cain should be a lot harder to finish this time.

Junior dos Santos on Cain Velasquez: 'He's going to get knocked out again'

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"Especially with the champion, they have to work a lot to keep the belt," dos Santos said. "In this sport, you have to give 100 percent of you to have a good career. Sometimes you get hurt. When you are the champion, it is better for you to pull out of the fight. But at that time for me, I was the one challenging the champion. I was waiting for that chance for too much time. I couldn't lose that chance."

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"When I beat Roy Nelson, I had my chance to fight for the title," dos Santos said. "Then something happened with Cain. I stayed waiting for him for one year. I asked for another fight and they put me on ‘TUF.' I fought Shane Carwin and that was very dangerous." Dos Santos holds up his fists. "Everyone knows he has bombs, right? After I took that Carwin fight and won, nothing was going to keep me out of my fight with Cain."

Which brings us back to the Velasquez rematch. Champions often bristle at giving second title shots to contenders they have already defeated. But dos Santos accepts the notion the former champion is at this point his clear-cut, number-one contender, considering Alistair Overeem is under suspension, Daniel Cormier has one fight left in Strikeforce, and he defeated Frank Mir in May.

"I think considering me as the first heavyweight in the world, I think Cain is the second one for sure, at this time," dos Santos said. "I want to fight with the best fighters in the world, Cain Velasquez for sure will give me his best. I love to knock out people, I would love to do it again. He is pretty good on his feet, but, if he accepts to fight standing with me again he's going to get knocked out again."

Junior dos Santos on Cain Velasquez: 'He's going to get knocked out again' - MMA Fighting

I went and searched after my initial reply. It was JDS' knee I was thinking about. So they both had knee issues..

Yeah Cain took that shot to the knee and just crumpled....oh yeah that's right he got slugged in the head in like 57 seconds. I'm sure his knee had so much to do with that. Yeah his shot would've been weaker or non existent yeah his cardio would've undoubtedly suffered if the fight had any length to it what so ever. Thing is it didn't even go a full minute. The way I see it Cain could've been perfectly healthy and the fight could've looked the exact same. There was no time offered to establish range or set up a takedown. He just got clipped. End of story. Unless that is there is now an anti Mexican sect of the aluminum foil hat wearing telepaths.

Cain's chin has always been suss.. he got wobbled numerous times by congo, as long as JDS is champ I dont see him gettin the belt. JDS has TNT and dynamite in his hands haha

Huh, someone making excuses after a loss... This is unheard of

Wait is this new news?

It was documented post fight after it happened.

Just like Fitch losing to Hendrix, it was because of the injury. Getting punched in the head really fucking hard had nothing to do with it.

I see his point that maybe Cain wasn't able to commit to everything he might have wanted to in the fight. He isn't really making excuses if you actually read what he says, Fitch is more like "I don't think he was 100% and this fight will be tougher for JDS".

There is a difference between stating a fact (had bum knee), and also using that fact to say "I would have won if..." Call it excuses if you want, but it just sounds like some reporter asked him what he thought of Cains chances this time.

Cain just made poor decisions in the first fight and got KO'd. Whether a bum knee forced any of those decisions is total speculation unless Cain says it. This fight will probably play out differently (not necessarily the outcome but the process), but that is more likely due to experience than improved health.

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Originally Posted by disposableassassin (Post 979475)

What about the knee affecting his mental preperation for the fight (one of the biggest fights in UFC history)? Going into a fight against JDS knowing your takedowns are going to be hard to set up and that you wont be able to throw kicks must be pretty hard to deal with. We've seen this happen so many times where guys are just not mentally right for a fight and they got KTFO (Jake sheilds after his dad passed away is one that stands out right away for me).

I think the fact that we've herd every excuse in the book from a number of different fighters affects how we accept these "excuses," so when a fighter (or teammate in this case) comes out and says they were hurt fans are quick to think its just an excuse for losing the last fight. To be honest i give Cain even more credit for not making this an excuse when he lost the first fight with JDS...true or untrue (the injury)

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Originally Posted by noahm (Post 979502)

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Originally Posted by BonesKnows (Post 979506)

All valid arguments nullified by the fact that this fight was like a minute long. I looked it up it was way longer than I thought initially. It was a whole minute and four seconds. Anybody could have had the lights turned off by that punch in that time period. I'm calling sour grapes and an attempt to start drumming up interest with the casual fan for the rematch.

I still say Cain could have been in the best shape of his career and still got ko'd by that punch. It was just a minute. There was no time to prove anything. Like GSP/Serra. He ate a big punch and got layed out.

I'm not saying that he didn't have a legitimate injury I'm just saying jds could have caught god with that shot in under a minute and dropped him.

Oh yeah and wasn't jake shooting for a sloppy single when he ate that knee? Shit happens. Cain was looking for the chance to start his rhythm when BAM the lights go out. No shame in it. The shame comes in not accepting it and moving on.