Cain Velasquez

Skill Breakdown

Charts are compiled based on results from all fights.

Total Fights:	10
Record:	9-0-0
Summary:	Well-rounded

Fighter Info

From:	Yuma, AZ USA
Fights Out Of:	San Jose, California USA
Age:	29
Height:	6' 1" ( 185 cm )
Weight:	240 lb ( 109 kg )
College:	Arizona State University
Degree:	Education

Biography

Training: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are sparring days mixed with cardio practice at night. Tuesdays and Thursdays are more jiu-jitsu and wrestling days mixed with stand up practice at night. Also a lift in the mornings and cardio at nights.

When and why did you start training for fighting?   I began training as an MMA fighter a year and a half ago. MMA fighting is the professional arena for wrestling; the UFC is to wrestlers what the NFL is to football players.

What ranks and titles have you held? Two-time All-American in wrestling for Arizona State, Two-time Pac-10 Champion, junior college national champion for Iowa Central Community College.

Do you have any heroes? My parents

What does it mean for you to fight in the UFC? The UFC is the "big show". It has the best fighters in the MMA arena.

Did you go to college and if so what degree did you earn? I graduated from Arizona State with a bachelor’s degree in Education.

What was your job before you started fighting? I worked security for a nightclub.

Favorite grappling technique: takedown

Favorite Striking technique: knees

•    History-Maker: First Mexican-American fighter to win a heavyweight title in boxing or MMA

•    Uplifting an entire people: Dethroning of UFC champ Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 (Oct. 2010) was watched by millions of people in Mexico on Televisa (Spanish cable). Before the bout commenced, and even in its opening moments, many Mexicans and Mexican-Americans had feared for their hero, wondering how he would defeat such a monstrous and intimidating heavyweight who outweighed Velasquez by a good 25 or 30 pounds. Cain’s win set off an explosion of Mexican pride in homes and bars across Mexico and the U.S.

•    Dedicated his title victory to Mexicans and Mexican Americans

•    Has said he hopes to be a role model for future Mexican-Americans, noting that he found few Mexican role models to look up to his youth

•    Father, Efrain, and mother Isabel worked long hours in the hot fields picking lettuce for meager wages to support Cain and his two siblings. Cain credits his parents with instilling in him an extraordinary work ethic

•    Has never lost a single round of any fight

•    Born Salinas, Calif., also raised in Yuma, Ariz.

•    Graduated with degree in Education from Arizona State University

•    Two-time Division I All-American wrestler (5th in 2005, 4th in 2006), Two-time PAC-10 Champ

•    Two-time high school state champ (Arizona)

•    Junior college national champ (2002 at Iowa Central Community College, the same powerhouse program that Jon Jones attended and won a national title)

•    Guerilla jiu-jitsu brown belt under Dave Camarillo

•    Bilingual, speaks Spanish and English

•    Chest tattoo reads “Brown Pride”

•    After winning UFC title, appeared on George Lopez’s late-night talk show “Lopez Tonight”