Congratulations, Cain! You’re Our Runner-up on…
August 20, 2009
Cain Velasquez was scheduled to fight Shane Carwin at UFC 104 for a possible shot at the UFC Heavywight title.
Due to scheduling and a quickly healing Lesnar, the UFC made a quick change to give Lesnar a fight in November, but they had to break up this fight. The UFC let Cain know that they feel he’s not ready for Lesnar by giving Carwin a shot at the title first.
And Velasquez’s runner-up door prize? He gets to welcome Ben Rothwell to the UFC. Rothwell was victimized with Affliction Entertainment’s crumble and decided to sign with the UFC. Rothwell was a beast in the ill-fated IFL and boasts a 30-6 record. Hey! He’s fought 30 people, too! Guess he’s almost as good as Fedor! Oh wait. He’s not Fedor, but he’s not a slouch and could possibly put the first blemish on Velasquez’s currently perfect record.
On the flipside, a strong performance by Cain in this fight and it keeps him right in the mix. I think a win at UFC 104 over Rothwell and Cain should pick up the winner of the Cro Cop-Dos Santos fight to prove he’s got the potential.
A number of people question his power after punching Kongo in the face a million (okay, so that’s an exaggeration) times in their fight and not able to put him to sleep. So I feel another fight even after Rothwell would do him some good.
That all depends on the climate though.
Imagine for a second that Carwin beats Lesnar, Cro Cop headkicks Dos Santos, and Couture is able to lay and pray Noguiera successfully. Suddenly, there’s a couple of big names with wins, a whole slew of contenders. Velasquez would put himself at the top of the pile with a win over Rothwell and any one of those names that’s not currently holding the belt.
Cain’s problem will be finishing any one of those guys.
First, though, he’s gotta take care of the 6’5″ 265 lbs. mammoth waiting for him on October 24, 2009.
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