By Edward Carifio, The Sun, Yuma, Ariz.
For the last two years, Cain Velasquez has lost the UFC heavyweight belt, regained it and defended it — all against the same two rivals.
Coming off a win in May against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva — recording an 81-second technical knockout for his second TKO in a year against Silva — Velasquez will face dos Santos on Oct. 19 in Houston in his second defense of the heavyweight belt.
The bout will be Velasquez’s fifth since he lost to dos Santos in 64 seconds, losing the belt to the Brazilian. After topping Silva in 3:36 in May 2012 to earn another title shot, he bested dos Santos in December in a unanimous decision.
“Dos Santos is a different fighter,” Velasquez said. “He’s a little quicker than Bigfoot, so that has something to do with it. But I’m happy with the way the fight turned out with me and Junior, the second one. So the third one, hopefully we can do the same thing. I feel like it’s a hard fight and it will be fought everywhere — on the ground, on the feet. I’m just looking for an exciting fight.”
The May fight against Silva was his first successful title defense, having gained the belt in October 2010 against Brock Lesnar on a first round TKO. He was hurt in the fight and had to wait 13 months to face dos Santos.
“The Brazilians are some of the top guys out there,” Velasquez said of Silva and dos Santos. “That’s why I keep fighting them.”
Velasquez said there’s a simple fact that is keeping the repetitive fight cards interesting.
“There’s a lot at stake,” Velasquez said. “There’s something I want to keep and something he wants to come in and take away from me. That’s all the motivation I need.”
Velasquez said it doesn’t matter who he faces.
“It’s just happened that they’ve been the No. 1 contender guys,” Velasquez said. “Silva pulled out the upset over Allistair Overeem. There was a lot of fuss that he should get the next shot. So yeah, it’s just the way it turned out.”
The pattern is likely to be broken in Velasquez’s next fight, should he successfully defend his title for a second straight time. Daniel Cormier is on the undercard in October, taking his 12-0 record against Roy Nelson. Cormier has fought just once in the UFC, topping Frank Mir in April. But he topped Silva in a Strikeforce event in Sept. 2011, flooring the Brazilian on punches in 3:56.
But Velasquez is focused on October and making sure he doesn’t lose to dos Santos, the only fighter who has ever bested him at the pro level.
“There was just that feeling that I got afterward. I didn’t like it. I’m not going to go there again,” Velasquez said. “I’m gong to do everything in my power to keep winning, I didn’t like the loss being on my head. I didn’t have what I wanted. I wasn’t the guy. I didn’t have the belt.”
