Hasta La Vista, Baby! Why Cain Velasquez May Terminate Brock Lesnar

To say we've seen a changing of the guard lately would be an understatement.

BJ Penn, Lyoto Machida, Fedor Emelianenko — these names and a few others have fallen while others have taken their place.

This past Saturday, the guard was not totally changed.

Shane Carwin didn't defeat Brock Lesnar for the Unified UFC Heavyweight title belt, but the way in which Carwin lost the fight ushered in the return of the Lesnar Era to the world of Mixed Martial Arts.

That arm triangle might as well be called "The Death Clutch" for Lesnar's fights because although I did back Carwin, I will admit that he did have Carwin hanging on for dear life.

That, plus it represents what Lesnar had to go through for about the past six to seven months.

Like all fairytales, though, this one does have a moment in which it could come to an end.

The Shane Carwin fight proved a swerve, but now Brock Lesnar has to deal with someone who is equally as dangerous as he.

Cain Velasquez, called "The Terminator" by UFC President Dana White, will be the next challenge for the Minnesotan.

Whether or not White is able to land the fight in the main event slot of UFC 119 is another story for another day.

What Cain has done is beat three credible names, something which Lesnar has also done despite losing his debut to Frank Mir.

Subtract Mir, and that leaves Carwin with Heath Herring and Randy Couture.

Meanwhile, Velasquez has beaten Cheick Kongo, Ben Rothwell, and Rodrigo Noguiera.

They're at a stalemate on credibility — they've beaten credible fighters in their respective, short pro careers.

Where Cain may have an edge, though, is where Carwin fell short, and that's where the key to this upcoming fight lies.

Clearly, Lesnar has no problem in the conditioning department, what with his training with Couture before UFC 116.

Cain hasn't had much question come up about his conditioning, but the Kongo fight still stands as the least impressive of Velasquez's wins.

Does that mean that Cain can't go five rounds with Lesnar?

Not at all.

Cain actually appears to me as a lighter heavyweight, despite being one of the best in the UFC's largest weight class, but there are some things about Cain that convince me that he won't gas out against Lesnar.

He's The Terminator for a reason

Cain got the nickname he got from Dana White, not because he resembled Arnold Schwarzenegger, but because of what he showed in the fight with Cheick Kongo.

Sure, he didn't finish Kongo, but every time Cheick tried to take him down with those unforgiving punches of his, Cain would just get right back up.

Every time you think you've got him down, he finds a way to get back up.

The guy has one damn impressive gas tank, let's put it that way.

Lesnar's not some guy who won the UFC Heavyweight Belt by a fluke or by winning something like a free-throw competition that has zilch to do with MMA.

He beat a legend, avenged his loss to a future legend, and submitted one of the sport's "Big Three" at 265.

Even more so, he's used his wrestling ability to get the upper hand in those fights.

Could he get the upper hand on Cain? Absolutely.

I just don't feel that Brock will be able to keep Cain down even if he does take him down.

He weathers the storm and he delivers it.

Plain and simple: I don't recall a fight outside of the Kongo bout in which Cain was put in too much danger, and even when Kongo landed shots, Cain still managed to subconsciously take Kongo down and do some damage of his own.

Even if it didn't win him the fight, it did put Kongo in a position where he didn't want to be — on the ground with Cain on top of him, raining down with blow after blow on the body of the French Kickboxing sensation.

Outside of that, Cain brings it to each fight and gets results every time.

He's never been across the cage from a guy with the freakish ability of Lesnar — with the agility and athleticism of Lesnar, not to mention the power.

Then again, I don't believe Lesnar's 5-1 record shows too many folks that can do what Cain can in the cage.

Not even Couture or Carwin.

I think Cain will come in as the quicker of the two heavyweights, and since he's been considered by some to have the division's most incredible cardio, I'll say he's going to come in as the better conditioned athlete.

He'll have to be in order to survive what Lesnar dishes out, and with Lesnar, you can expect everything but the kitchen sink to be thrown at Velasquez.

Still, Velasquez has proven that he can take a flurry of punches and still do something painful to his opponent.

It's not going to be easy to do to Lesnar, but that doesn't mean Cain can't hurt Lesnar.

He may be freakish with his athleticism, but there's one thing to remember:

UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, DREAM, Bellator — they all have guys with unnatural ability in the cage, but at the end of the day, you're still talking about men.

The way I see it, all men can be defeated at something, even if they make it look easy.

Velasquez I think will have the endurance factor at a level where Brock will throw and damage Cain, but Cain will survive.

Hunger + Determination + "Brown Pride" = Trouble for Brock.

Cain's ninth pro fight will be against Brock Lesnar, and I dare say he's earned it.

He's clearly hungry for the belt, even going so far as to warn anyone looking for that top spot in the division to not try and challenge him.

He's fought tough competition and beaten tough competition, and most of all, he's got the pride of a warrior that comes from his Mexican heritage.

Mix that all together, and what you have is MMA's definition of an "iron will".

Here you have a heavyweight prospect with cardio on another level and he can not only take people down, but he can knock them out.

It's guys like Cain Velasquez that remind us why this sport is always worth watching.

He's exciting to watch, he never seems to slow down, and even if the fight doesn't end in round one, Cain does his damnedest to end the fight every time.

Brock been in danger before, but the pace hasn't been pushed on him the way Cain will.

Lesnar could be the better conditioned athlete though I believe otherwise, but in any event, Cain won't relent.

I feel that Cain will keep Lesnar moving as much as possible before he attempts to finish him off.

When I say "Cain will keep Lesnar moving", I don't mean that he'll run from him for five rounds and pray that Lesnar doesn't catch him.

I think he'll work that into his game plan, but he'll also go after the legs of Lesnar and maybe even exchange some with him.

Has anyone even seen Brock handle himself in an intense exchange on the feet? I know I haven't, and I would like to convince myself that a man of Lesnar's size should make sure his boxing coach — whether it's Peter Welch or someone else — helps him out with hand speed.

I don't want to be the guy with some of the heaviest hands in MMA, and have to exchange with someone who could KO me in that wild flurry session.

At least, not without some work on my hand speed, I wouldn't.

Hand speed is what I believe Cain has on Lesnar — his hands aren't as heavy as Lesnar's, but he can throw a quick and powerful shot that can put someone on the ground.

Of course, Lesnar has a chin, but Cain does have what it takes to exhaust Lesnar and perhaps even put some solid dents in that "chin of steel".

Meeting Lesnar's match... or is he?

Lesnar and Velasquez aren't so different when you look at how they fight.

Usually, they do like to finish, but they do love to take people down and finish them from there.

Such would make you think they were equal, until you take recent fights into account.

Not only Lesnar's submission win over Carwin, but Velasquez's knockout of Rodrigo Noguiera at UFC 110 throw the bout into question.

Specifically, the question is: Will Velasquez have a disadvantage against Lesnar if the fight becomes a grappling affair?

It goes back to the incredible cardio and conditioning of Velasquez, and the blend of speed and striking power in Velasquez's blows.

I don't know if Lesnar does actually know any Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but a submission win by arm triangle in his sixth pro fight is pretty scary.

I think Velasquez should be the aggressor on the ground if he can get Lesnar on the ground himself.

With the physique of Lesnar, a scramble for control of his back and a rear naked choke seems like a good approach to a submission finish.

The Verdict: Why Velasquez's conditioning will win him the fight.

When you can go in the cage like Cain can, everything else appears second nature.

He always looks in phenomenal shape and he always delivers when he says he's getting the "W".

When he faces Brock Lesnar, nothing will be much closer to the truth than this.

Lesnar can get exhausted if your put him in a position where he has to struggle to escape from the bottom by way of a stiff shot to the face or the button.

You won't get exhaustion from Cain Velasquez because that man is always ready to go on for a long time, even if he ends it quick.

He also might be smart enough to realize that he can't commit to one shot in order to dethrone Lesnar.

It's going to take more than one shot — it may even take a submission hold for Velasquez to put away Lesnar.

However Cain winds up putting away Lesnar, one thing is for absolute certain:

When he gets the "W" on Lesnar, he won't be running on "E".

As a matter of fact, Cain may still be running on "Full" by the time he finishes Lesnar.