Big Plans: Velasquez Talks Future Opponents

You’re Cain Velasquez and you’ve just made Ben Rothwell’s mother exit the arena in a hurry, likely earning yourself a title shot. You probably want to sleep. Too bad the media has other plans.

Velasquez and trainer Javier Mendez spoke to Sherdog.com’s Greg Savage to evaluate the issues involved in facing either Brock Lesnar or Shane Carwin, who fight one another Nov. 21. And unlike some camps that promote the idea their athletes could hang with mace and small-caliber weapons, Mendez was practical.

“[Lesnar] is an extremely hard fight for us,” Mendez said. “We’re going to definitely have to win the standup game and the kicking game. And then the wrestling, the size of Brock could potentially neutralize us, but Cain’s cardio is going to neutralize him, so it’s going to be a really, really interesting fight.”

I’m not sure there’s anything to neutralize in Lesnar’s cardio conditioning: he had no problem staying in Heath Herring’s face in a 15-minute fight, which is downright demoralizing considering his near 280-pound frame. Big men are supposed to wear out easy. That’s how life stays fair. Lesnar doesn’t.

And on Carwin: “Should Carwin get past Lesnar, it’s going to be a little different fight. We can’t attack the same as against Lesnar because Carwin is to be respected because of his incredible power, and his wrestling is top notch also. We will have to take a different path because he is a different fighter with different strengths.”

More ambiguous: Carwin is more or less Lesnar’s mirror. But if anyone’s cardio should be open to debate, it’s Carwin’s, who hasn’t seen a second round anywhere but in a gym.