in action, one of the most colorful characters in the UFC, who also has one of the more interesting careers, from gaining the belt at a very accelerated rate, to winning rather decisively against all his recent opponents, to even fight back death itself, Lesnar is always a fighter to look out for, and always justifies the hype (except for his first match against Frank Mir,
that is).
and Ben Rothwell.
Certainly an extraordinary challenge for Lesnar, but something I was sure he would overcome , especially after all the adversity he had already faced.HEAVYWEIGHT CLASSIC
At the sound of the bell, Lesnar immediately charges in like a madman, and attacks with a trio of vicious knees, the third of which flew in Velasquez's face. Pretty astounding seeing a flying knee from the 280-ish pound champion. Brock continues the clinch, but Velasquez shows his great wrestling abilities by breaking free from Lesnar's mighty grip.
The two exchange 1-2's for a few seconds, when Lesnar takes immediate advantage of an opening and takes Velasquez down with a vicious single leg. On the ground, Velasquez stays busy and prevents Lesnar from going into half guard (from where he most probably plans on dealing those "hammer fists of death" he's very well known for, particularly from the the second Frank Mir
and the Heath Herring
fights), and before Joe Rogan can say "let's see how well Cain fights off of his back", Velasquez is on his feet, though now pinned against the cage, and one of his legs still the grip of the giant.Lesnar keeps Velasquez against the cage for an entire minute, pressuring him with his whole body weight the entire time, before taking Velasquez down with a double leg he'd been carefully transitioning to. As another testament to his great wrestling skills, though, Velasquez is immediately back on his feet in less than a second! What's even more amazing though, is that, upon getting back up, he manages to immediately break Lesnar's grip on his body and completely separate from him.
They exchange a couple of punches once again, and Velasquez even attempts a head kick. Using his jabs, Velasquez gets in range nicely, gets a single leg on Lesnar, takes him down and gets his back. After getting his head smashed in for a couple of seconds from a series of devastating hooks from Velasquez, Lesnar manages to spin out of Velasquez's grip and get back onto his feet.Still obviously reeling very badly from Velasquez's ground and pound, Lesnar gets hit square in the face by a left, while attempting a double leg. His legs already geared for the momentum of the takedown, a buckled Brock Lesnar is sent almost flying to the other side of the Octagon (a good 32 feet), spinning, as he tries desperately to regain his bearings.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
This is really the beginning of the end for the champ right here, as Velasquez peppers his face with punches: first a 1-2-3-4, with an uppercut at the end for good measure, then a perfectly landed knee to the head to counter Lesnar's almost aimless 1-2's, which rings the champ's bell very badly and staggers him. A straight right sends Lesnar helplessly crashing towards the floor.
Velasquez jumps on Lesnar immediately and continuously administers ground and pound to completely take out the champ. Lesnar stays busy and tries to improve position by using his legs to push off the cage, but Velasquez maintains good technique and stays on top of him the entire time.
A whole minute of ground and pound later, Lesnar's amazing wrestling skills kick in and, despite being clearly hurt badly and being in a bad position, under another very skilled wrestler, Lesnar still manages to get on his feet! Unfortunately for him, the human body, even his, has its limits, and the amount of punishment he had received throughout those four minutes was clearly over his threshold, as he immediately drops to his knees after getting back up.
Velasquez continues his ground and pound, and, after 15 seconds of seeing Lesnar being unable to intelligently defend himself, referee Herb Dean stops the fight and a new Heavyweight King is crowned.
BRAINS OVER BRAWN
and still manage a submission victory in the very next round, I didn't think anything could stop him anytime soon.Velasquez proved me wrong, though. So very, very wrong. I always knew that he had much better overall technique than both Lesnar and Carwin, but I never, for once, thought that he could hit as hard. He not only proved me wrong, but he also showed that he could hit harder than Shane Carwin, and possibly even Brock Lesnar himself! In those minutes that Lesnar was being overwhelmed by Shane Carwin's ground and pound, he was never as hurt as those few seconds when Cain had his back and was administering hooks to the side of his head, followed by the left that sent him spinning out of control and signaled the beginning of the end for his rather interesting rise to the top of the UFC Heavyweight ladder.
It's all about the technique in this case. Though Lesnar and Carwin are both nearly twice Velasquez's size, Cain's much sharpened technique allowed him to aim with pinpoint accuracy and generate more force from not only his trunk, but also his lower extremities, thus allowing him to hit harder than any of those giants. This was something I obviously failed to factor in, but that's one of the things I absolutely love from watching the UFC: you not only have fun with these classic matches, you learn something new from them as well.FINAL THOUGHTS
Congratulations to the new Heavyweight champ! It's going to be very interesting and exciting to see him defend his title in future matches! After his performance, I actually expect him to hold onto that gold for a long time to come. Brown Pride, indeed.
Check out more amazing photos of UFC 121 over at the official UFC website!
