Cain Velasquez has no sympathy for Stipe Miocic as his fellow heavyweight continues to wait for a rematch against Daniel Cormier.
Stipe Miocic has been lobbying for a world heavyweight championship rematch nonstop ever since dropping the title to Daniel Cormier at UFC 226. His reasoning is simple: after breaking the record for most consecutive heavyweight title defenses, he is deserving of a rematch. Cain Velasquez did not break the record, but is only one fight shy of Miocic’s record and is a two-time champion, yet he, too, was not guaranteed an immediate rematch after his second reign ended at the hands of Fabricio Werdum at UFC 188.
On the contrary, when Velasquez returned to action the following year at UFC 200, he was scheduled against Travis Brown. This reason, along with other precedents put forward by close friend, training partner, and reigning heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, helps elucidate Velasquez’s lack of sympathy for Miocic:
“Just because you were the reigning, defending heavyweight champion, doesn’t mean you get a title shot right away,” Velasquez said in an interview with Cageside Press. “Stipe just put in work when he needed to do it, and he won when he needed to do it. My hat’s off to him, with the guys that he’s fought. I believe he’s been a great champion,” Velasquez said of Miocic. “I knew just going in and watching him throughout his career, I knew how good he was.”
Good, but not good enough to beat Daniel Cormier, according to Velasquez. While Stipe Miocic has stated that Cormier’s victory over him was a fluke, Velasquez believes the opposite, which made his prediction for the UFC 226 main event easy to arrive at:
“I didn’t see anywhere where Daniel would lose that fight,” Velasquez said. “I was pretty confident in that.”
What are your thoughts on Cain Velasquez’s comments on Stipe Miocic?
