The Mexican American cage-fighting locomotive named Cain Velasquez could not be derailed at Saturday night's UFC 104 in Los Angeles. He remains hinged on his solid steel track and now seems destined toward a heavyweight title shot.
Coming off the biggest win of his career so far against Cheick Kongo at UFC 99, Velasquez continued his undefeated march toward the UFC title in front of a predominantly hometown crowd at the Staples Center. And with this superbly fought and truly dominating victory performance over a very game Ben Rothwell, the sky should be the limit for this brave young fighter.
The Southern California native Velasquez is a 6'1", 240-pound self-proclaimed chain wrestler who fights out of San Jose at the American Kickboxing Academy and now stands undefeated through seven fights, five by knockout.
After witnessing his last match against Kongo, it was clearly evident to this writer that, being of Mexican heritage, he had also inherited some of that country's notorious God-given resilience, toughness, and natural fighting ability.
And now that he has passed his latest test, it continues to be my opinion that this tremendous cage fighter has the right tools—and also possesses the self-discipline and training regiment necessary—to become the next UFC heavyweight champion.
For those of you who have never had the opportunity to see the current UFC heavyweight champion, the WWE superstar-turned-MMA fighter named Brock Lesnar, he is an amazingly physically gifted specimen.
Lesnar is undoubtedly one of strongest, fastest, and possibly one the biggest of any UFC heavyweight ever in mixed martial arts history.
He is an alpha-male athlete like no other, and he holds a physical advantage over most of the other UFC big guns, yet should he defeat Shane Carwin in his next fight, Lesnar, in this writer's opinion, would be the next logical step and possibly the only true test left for Velasquez.
As for Valasquez's latest fight, it came as no surprise to me that this ultimate warrior would demolish Rothwell in the early rounds, but even if he hadn't, I wouldn't have been too overly concerned.
Mexicans are known throughout the world as the toughest and most durable pugilists in the game—very rarely, if ever, do they give up the fight.
So if he hadn't won it early, he may have won it late, as he demonstrated in his last fight against Kongo.
As the great Bruce Lee once said, "Use whatever works, and take it from wherever you can find it." Velasquez calls himself a chain wrestler, and, whatever that is, it certainly works well for him.
He was dropped early against Kongo, but whatever the grappler lacked in the early stand-up battle, he certainly made up for later in the contest.
Velasquez—with his iron-clad jaw and courageous Mexican-heart—mounted a comeback effort which was amazing to watch.
Velasquez displayed to the world his durability, and he put his never-say-die attitude to work, regained his composure, and trudged onward to victory
Against Kongo—and also last night against Rothwell—Velasquez showed us an outstanding demonstration of hammer-fists, elbows from the top, and superior positioning—not to mention Octagon control. All performed while maintaining relentless pressure and delivering numerous takedowns.
The Mexican American punished Kongo nonstop en route to a unanimous decision from all three judges at cage-side earlier this year; however, last night he wasn't about to leave anything in the judges' hands.
Rothwell, was an IFL standout with a record of 30-6 and was ranked 10th among MMA heavyweights by Sherdog.com; in this fight, he had the proverbial "puncher's chance."
That, however, was the only chance I had given him, as after the Kongo fight it became clearly evident that Rothwell would have his hands full going up against this undefeated and hungry heavyweight who is steadily improving.
Rothwell had been training with the once-reputable Miletich Fighting Systems out of Iowa, yet he had notable losses to subpar fighters such as TUF reality show offal Mike Whitehead and exiled former UFC champions Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski.
Rothwell was continuously hammered on the ground as well as on his feet for the first round, and during the second the same punishment continued until referee Steve Mazzagatti had seen enough; he stopped the fight halfway through the second.
Nothing more than a slight bump in the road for the rocketing Velasquez was all Rothwell proved to be—a road which, barring any of the unusual, unfortunate, or unforeseen pitfalls, will inevitably lead him to the UFC summit.
Whether that future summit meeting will be against Lesnar is anybody's guess, but I, for one, am looking forward to that matchup.
This thrilling new heavyweight contender will undoubtedly make a run for the title soon enough, and if and when he does, there aren't many doubts in this writer's mind that he may also win it.
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