Cain Velasquez vs. Alistair Overeem: Head to Toe Breakdown

After Cain Velasquez lost his UFC heavyweight title to Junior Dos Santos at the UFC on FOX event last night, possible opponents for the former champ are far and few between.

While a rematch with Chieck Kongo or a fight against Shane Carwin is possible, it’s likely that the UFC will wait to match him up against the loser of the UFC 141 main event between Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem.

The title eliminator between Lesnar and Overeem is an extremely intriguing fight in its own right, but if Lesnar is able to pull off the victory, how would a fight between the former UFC champion Velasquez and former Strikeforce champion Overeem play out?

Striking

The striking advantage obviously goes to Overeem in this one.

It is rare to see a heavyweight fighter with the Muay Thai skills that Overeem possesses, and he has legitimate knockout power in his hands and feet.

While Cain may have a slight advantage in raw power, Overeem is just too technical for Velasquez on the feet, and his four inch reach advantage would allow him to pick Cain apart from the outside.

Grappling

Just as Overeem had a definitive advantage on the feet, once the fight hits the mat, Velasquez will be in control.

It’s unlikely that Overeem would even consider shooting in on Velasquez for a takedown, so it would be Cain scoring the initial takedown to get it to the mat, and he would be able to control Overeem with ease.

Overeem may have a number of submission wins on his resume, but he has never submitted a grappler as strong as Velasquez, and unless he catches Cain in a guillotine when he shoots in, he won’t be able to tap out Velasquez.

Cardio

Velasquez has been a cardio machine his entire UFC career, and he would be able to wear Overeem down with little difficulty.

Overeem looked like he had some serious cardio concerns during his fight with Fabricio Werdum back in June, and that was a fight that featured little to no action far more often than the average fan would like.

Velasquez is known for putting pressure on his opponents and would be able to wear Overeem down within the first round.