UFC 110 Aftermath: The Rise of Cain

From The 3rd String Safety:

I wasn’t surprised that Cain Velasquez won. I was shocked by how he won.

My staunch opinion on this fight was that he was going to have to take Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira down and leap into the danger zone that is Nog’s guard. He would have to show improved Jiu-Jitsu defense and ride out fifteen minutes of danger to get himself closer to Brock Lesnar.

Of course, that didn’t happen. Cain chose to bypass all that hard work for a quick overhand right and a follow up shot on the ground. He finished Big Nog’. He broke the unbreakable.

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Of course, now we all have to sit here and talk about how good Cain is and he is clearly great. However, I’ve noticed a really disturbing trend in the last couple of days. People are beginning to underrate Brock Lesnar. I’m not quite sure the reason why. Maybe it’s been because he is out of action for so long. Maybe it’s because people who follow the sport generally don’t like him very much. Nontheless, I’ve heard more Brock hating in the past few days than I’ve heard in the last year or two.

"The myth about Brock is that he is a great wrestler." someone turned to me and said after the Cain/Nog fight. I rolled my eyes at him. It’s not that I don’t value his opinion, because he is right. Lesnar is not the super wrestler that people think he is. However, the same people were talking about Lesnar’s size being insurmountable not too long ago.

I think this is part of the reason that I had such an easy time transitioning from being a football writer to a MMA writer. The same kind of bandwagon jumping happens far, far too often in both sports. One win or loss does not a season make. Nor a fighter. Nor anything else. Particularly when it’s an early knockout with four ounce gloves.

The reality is that Cain weights 245 lbs. He has good standup, with power that has finally manifested itself seven fights later. He is a far superior wrestler than Brock. He has all those advantages.

So, what does Brock have going for him? Being roughly the size of Mount Rushmore. He will enter the Octagon roughly 50 pounds heavier than Cain. Here’s what I want you to do. Weigh yourself. Than, find someone who is roughly fifty pounds bigger than you. Now imagine that person had almost zero body fat. Yea, that just happened.

So, here is where I stand on Cain: I’m a fan. I like Cain. I like the no nonsense style. I love the pride he has in his heritage. I adore the "Brown Pride" tattoo. However, I would still pick Brock over him any day of the week.

I hope I’m wrong but I’m not.