Cain Velasquez's victory over Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 on October 23, 2010, remains a landmark moment in MMA history.
In that bout, Velasquez showcased his superior striking and wrestling prowess, relentlessly dominating the professional wrestling star and securing a first-round TKO.
This decisive win exposed Lesnar's vulnerability against elite strikers who possess strong takedown defense. While appearing on Beyond The Belt, the former UFC fighter discussed the fight.
I probably weighed in at, like, 240-something going in,” Cain Velasquez said. “My strong suits with him, I was very good at getting off on the bottom. We did this in college wrestling a lot. I was just very good at getting up from the bottom, so I knew if I were to get stuck there, then it could be a long night for me, but we worked on that over and over again with DC. We had another national champion heavyweight wrestler come in.
We started in the worst positions, whatever (coach) Bob (Cook) said, in the middle of sparring, I had to lay down on my back with 16-ounce gloves and had DC lay on top of me and that’s where we started from multiple times a round,” Velasquez continued. “So I was very good at getting up from the bottom, especially for that camp, and I knew I just had to keep it on the feet with strikes. Just the pressure of everything, but it didn’t matter for me. My mentality was I didn’t care if I lost or won, I’m just going to give you what I have. That’s it. That’s all I could do.
Nearly a decade later, the two crossed paths again, this time in the world of pro wrestling.
In 2019, Velasquez made his WWE debut, confronting Lesnar on SmackDown's FOX premiere after "The Beast Incranate's" quick victory over Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship.
Their WWE encounter at Crown Jewel 2019 was much different than their UFC fight. Lesnar was booked to decisively defeat Velasquez in approximately two minutes via kimura submission. Velasquez’s WWE tenure ended the following year.