AKA's Cain Velasquez and Daniel Cormier: Who Should Get the Next UFC Title Shot?

American Kickboxing Academy has long been considered one of the best mixed martial arts gyms in the United States.

But with the emergence of Strikeforce Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier and the healthy return of Cain Velasquez, AKA might have a problem—its heavyweights might be too good right now.

Following a successful title defense over Frank Mir by Junior dos Santos at UFC 146, the heavyweight division is open once again without an obvious No. 1 contender for the title. 

With Alistair Overeem out due to a suspension, the top two choices seem to be the aforementioned Velasquez and Cormier. 

The AKA teammates both earned impressive victories over high-level opponents in May with Cormier dominating Josh Barnett on his way to a unanimous decision victory and Velasquez delivering a heinous, one-sided beatdown on Antonio "Big Foot" Silva.

With the likes of Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch in the welterweight division, American Kickboxing Academy is no stranger to having numerous title contenders in their camp, but this time it's different.

Without any other logical contenders on the radar, it seems almost inevitable that the UFC will have to choose between one of the two AKA fighters.

So which guy deserves the title shot first?

Truthfully, a case could be made for either fighter. 

Daniel Cormier has been unbelievable since earning himself a spot in the Strikeforce Grand Prix tournament as Alistair Overeem's replacement. Still undefeated at 10-0, the former US Olympic team wrestler took the MMA world by storm by making a victory over Barnett look like a walk in the park. 

But for this writer, as great as Cormier has been, it's Cain Velasquez who stands out as the fighter who most deserves the next shot at the title.

Velasquez's reign as the UFC heavyweight champion was cut short on the very first UFC on FOX event when he was knocked out by dos Santos in just over one minute. However, as dominant as the victory was for dos Santos, there was still controversy, largely because of the health problems that Velasquez had been battling.

The fight happened after Velasquez spent over a year on the shelf, recovering from shoulder surgery following his victory over Brock Lesnar. 

Though he was supposedly fully recovered from the torn rotator cuff, Velasquez simply didn't look like himself in the cage that night against dos Santos. He looked slow, he looked weak and he most certainly didn't look like the stone-cold killer that we saw in his punishing victory over Antonio Silva at UFC 146.

With Velasquez now healthy and the UFC still having to wait for Daniel Cormier's final Strikeforce fight, it makes all the sense in the world to begin setting up the highly anticipated Dos Santos vs. Velasquez rematch as soon as possible.

Not only does Velasquez deserve the title fight due to his hard work and impressive victory on Saturday night, but the hype surrounding the rematch could be huge.

Even though dos Santos won the first fight with ease, it's going to be fairly easy for the UFC to sell that Cain was simply not himself for that bout. Now he's back...and he wants his title.

“I like that fight,” UFC President Dana White said during the post-fight press conference when confronted about the rematch. “Cain deserves the next fight.”

No confirmation has been made yet, but it does appear as if Velasquez will get the first crack at dos Santos while his teammate, Cormier, finishes out his contract with Strikeforce. 

Barring any setbacks in that final fight, look for Cormier to get his opportunity to fight for the UFC title in his very first fight for the promotion.

The biggest question will be who he'll be fighting against. Will it be the current champion, dos Santos? Or will he have to put his personal friendship aside and fight a teammate in Cain Velasquez?

No matter how the story unfolds, it appears as if the UFC heavyweight division has finally begun to rebuild itself again in 2012.