The Lost Years
Two months after his debut, Cain would fight again, and this time it was in the ring. BodogFight was the new promotion in town, run by eccentric billionaire Calvin Ayre seemingly as a way to push his online gambling site. But Ayre threw a tonne of money into the promotion, even signing Fedor Emelianenko as a one-off to face Matt Lindland. And all of the shows were available to watch on Bodog.com.
Velasquez was chosen to fight on Bodog’s ‘Clash of the Nations’, the idea being that over two shows in two days, a series of fights would be held with the winners then going on to be matched against each other at a Bodog PPV show in 2007. His opponent was Jeremiah Constant – a fascinating choice as not only did Constant have far more experience (he was 4-0) but he was also a strong wrestler himself, coming out of Oklahoma State as an NCAA Division II wrestler and fighting out of Team Quest alongside wrestlers like Matt Lindland and Dan Henderson.
This time, I was able to find the fight online easily thanks to Bodog’s website, and it was an interesting one indeed. Filled with tremendous wrestling exchanges between the two men, two things became pretty clear to me. One was that Velasquez was willing to push a pace that few Heavyweights were capable of – basically breaking Constant in a round with his relentless pressure – and two, despite his form not being perfect, Cain’s striking was absolutely non-stop and seemed hellish for his opponent. Despite putting up more of a fight than Fujarczyk, Constant was finished in the first round too.
After the Constant fight, Velasquez was supposed to face off with former PRIDE fighter Roman Zentsov at the afore-mentioned Bodog PPV. It would’ve been super-interesting because of the experience gap – Zentsov had 25 fights at the time and although his record was so-so, he’d been in there with truly world-class fighters like Fabricio Werdum, Gilbert Yvel and Alistair Overeem.
In early 2007 though, it was announced that Velasquez had broken his hand and was out of the fight – the first time that the injury bug raised its head for Cain. The Bodog show, headlined by the Fedor vs. Lindland match, went ahead in April without him – Zentsov beat Kristof Midoux instead – and suddenly all went quiet on the Cain front. The Bodog promotion died quietly later in 2007 and Velasquez was left without a contract.
The prospect
Despite constantly Googling his name throughout 2007 to find out about any upcoming fights, it seemed like Cain Velasquez had somehow slipped through the cracks. Maybe he wasn’t as good as Thomson had made him out to be? Like a bolt from the blue, though, that all changed.
In early 2008, a brief announcement was posted onto UFC.com to announce a handful of undercard fights for UFC 83 – the first UFC show in Canada, headlined by the rematch between Georges St-Pierre and Matt Serra. One of the fights announced was a Heavyweight match pitting Velasquez against a fellow debutant, Australian Brad Morris.
At just 2-0, Velasquez was in the UFC. But how?
The rumour was that the reason for Cain’s long layoff was that nobody on the regional scene wanted to fight him, such was his reputation. Realising that racking up wins on that scene was the only way to get Cain into the UFC, his coaches at AKA – Javier Mendes and ‘Crazy’ Bob Cook – were concerned with this. And so they decided on another strategy. From all sources, they invited UFC president Dana White to watch the team train, and Dana saw Cain in action, apparently dominating a pair of top UFC fighters in Paul Buentello and Brandon Vera.
Velasquez was signed on the spot.
When UFC 83 came around in April 2008, the Velasquez/Morris fight was hardly considered a marquee one. Only hardcore fans cared about this Heavyweight prospect making his debut, and the fight went on second. Morris – a fellow Bodog veteran – had the experience advantage and was bringing a solid 10-2 record to the table, but instantly – right after a left hook dropped him face first – it was clear he was wildly overmatched. Displaying much-improved striking from the Constant fight, Velasquez beat the Aussie down mercilessly, ending the fight in just over two minutes. If anything, the fight was stopped criminally late.
Despite announcers Mike Goldberg and Kenny Florian somehow butchering his name – “Ky-an” they called him – it was a tremendous debut. But despite the win, the hype train never really picked up outside of the hardcore fanbase. It was probably due to a combination of Morris not being the best opponent, and the fact that around the same time we saw the debuts of two Heavyweights who took more of the spotlight; Shane Carwin – a hulking wrestler with brutal knockout power – and Brock Lesnar, the former WWE superstar turned fighter.
In a division that was suddenly gaining more intrigue, Velasquez was firmly the dark horse.
