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Dana White wants to book Cain Velasquez vs. Brock Lesnar as soon as possible
By Zach Arnold | July 4, 2010
TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO INTERVIEW FROM MMAFIGHTING.COM
ARIEL HELWANI: “If UFC 112 was one of the lowest moments of your career, was this perhaps one of the highlights of your career?”
DANA WHITE: “This is literally the best night of my career, ever. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this way about fights. It was a great night. Every fight I thought was dynamite. These guys came out and gave 110% and again you know I always feel like a goof when I say this about grown men, but I’m proud of all these guys tonight and they delivered. It was a great night for me.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “The trials and tribulation of Brock Lesnar. It’s an amazing story over this past year. It’s been almost a year since he sat here and you know everything that happened after UFC 100. When you saw him submit Shane Carwin, what were the thoughts that went through your mind?”
DANA WHITE: “I couldn’t believe it. You know, and sometimes in the press conference you know you guys are asking questions and I actually wanted to ask a question and say something but I hold back and don’t do it. What he did tonight, he had the mount and to jump off and go for that submission was dangerous. I mean, that was a very risky move. You saw it happen earlier on in the Chris Lytle fight when Matt Brown had that submission and had it forever and it looked like he was going to get it but didn’t. It’s a dangerous submission against a guy like Shane Carwin. He went for it and he pulled it off, you know, you really got to give him the credit and the respect for doing it.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You said at the press conference that you bad-mouthed Josh Rosenthal before he even did anything. And then you gave him props. Ultimately, the right call? I thought it was, but I’m curious for your take.”
DANA WHITE: “Yeah, you know, I just get so nervous, man, with the reffing and judging. Coming out of that Akiyama/Leben fight, I wanted to see what the judges’ scorecards said. I wanted to see who they had winning that fight and that was a tough one to score, I mean that fight could have gone either way and possibly even for Akiyama, you know what I mean? I think he did a lot of damage, have Leben hurt many times, but Chris… and to hurt Chris Leben is no easy task, so… I think, even in losing tonight, Akiyama gained a lot of respect. Back to the question you asked me about the reffing and yeah, I saw him in there and listen, I have my moments with all the refs when you know how I am with those guys… He did a great job tonight. I think that… you know the fight was close to being stopped. You know, there could have been a couple of guys who jumped in but like Brock said in the press conference, he kept moving and stayed busy and looked like he wasn’t hurt or out of it and I think Josh did a great job.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “We’ll get to Akiyama in a second, but I’m just curious about the first round once again. Do you think critics will look to that first round and say, you know what, Brock might not be as tough as we thought we was?”
DANA WHITE: “No, he’s tougher than we thought he was. He’s definitely tougher than we thought he was but you know the guy continues to grow as a Mixed Martial Artist, you know. He doesn’t have the greatest stand-up you’ll ever see, you know, he pulled off his first submission tonight. You know, he’s a wrestler who’s evolving and learning all these things. That’s why when I talked about the ring rust with him… you know, listen, he’s in great shape. They said he had an awesome camp, he’s in the best shape he’s ever been in, you know he’s healed up 100% from his illness that he had. Now it’s a matter of growing. Every fight that he has, every training camp that he has, he’s going to learn more and more. If you look at how he lost by submission to Frank Mir in that first fight and how he dominated Mir in the second fight when Mir was going the for the same submissions. It’s pretty incredible.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Very special moment, Chris Leben and Stephan Bonnar, two guys who are part of The Ultimate Fighter 1 win Fight of the Night here in 2010 and they’ve had to endure a lot, right? I mean Chris Leben we know the story. Stephan Bonnar the same. Talk about what they did tonight.”
DANA WHITE: “Yeah, those two have been through a lot again, I don’t like to say that I’m proud of grown men, but listen I’m proud of those two tonight. They’ve been through a lot of stuff and I was actually starting to wonder myself if Stephan, you know, if Stephan still had the desire and the fire to fight and he looked tonight like he looked in the Finale of Season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter, man. He just kept coming forward. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy run more times in a fight than I did in that fight tonight. It was a dog-fight, it was an absolute war and a fun fight to watch.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You said that Cain Velasquez is next for Brock Lesnar. When do you think we’ll see that fight?”
DANA WHITE: “I need to talk to Brock about it and I’m a big believer in let’s get these guys right back in as soon as we possibly can. You know, farming sounds fun but… that’s not what really pays the bills.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I have a lot of questions about Velasquez as a contender to Lesnar’s belt. It’s true that last night’s fight exposed weaknesses in Lesnar’s game, but I’m not sure Cain is the right man to exploit those and beat Brock.
Lesnar’s top flaw was his reluctance or inability to hang with Carwin standing. He threw few punches of his own, and did so without much convinction. His reaction to getting punched was one of sheer terror. Finally, he was very uncomfortable on his back, and struggled there for half a round. Not until Shane gassed himself out with punches was Brock able to regain his composure and rise to his feet.
On the plus side, Lesnar showed a lot of mental and physical toughness, enduring brutal punishment without seeking a way out, and coming out for round 2 with refreshed energy and confidence. He has the right attitude, the surivival instinct, and the will to win. On the technical side, once Lesnar found his moment, the takedown, transitions, and submission were skilfully executed.
Bringing Velasquez into the picture, we see that he’s a pretty different fighter than Carwin. First of all, Cain is notoriously NOT heavy-handed, despite recently punching through Nogueira’s worn-out chin to victory. While Cain might be able to pressure Lesnar with stand-up grappling (as demonstrated by Carwin and Couture, in his fight with Lesnar), it’s unlikely he’ll overwhelm Brock with punches and put the fear of God in him like Carwin did.
Second, it’s unlikely Cain has the strength, size or the wrestling advantage necessary to hold down and control a beast like Lesnar for a good length of time. And that’s only if he managed to take Lesnar down with a single or double leg, a knockdown, or a sweep from the bottom – all unlikely.
Cain’s major advantage over Carwin is in the cardio department. With his younger age, lighter weight, and demonstrated explosiveness and speed, Velasquez is free of the speculation that surrounded Shane’s fitness and ability to fight beyond a half-round or two. And now the question – do Cain’s strengths and weaknesses, compared to Shane’s, give him a realistic chance of winning the title?
The way I see it, if you can’t punch Lesnar out, or take him and hold him down, it’s pretty damn hard to beat him. Cain might surprise us with a submission, as Lesnar just did, but that’s a stretch. Could Cain absorb an early onslaught and take the fight into the later rounds in pursuit of a decision? That seems to be his surest path to victory – and that path involves spending 25 minutes in a cage with a monstrous beast!
If Lesnar keeps calm, he wins this fight. He needs to keep his mind straight and approach the stand-up without fear. If he does this with confidence, he might shock Velasquez with a powerful punch or two, of the kind that knocked down Couture, Herring and Mir. Suddenly we might see Cain shooting desperately for takedowns.
When Lesnar finds himself underneath Velasquez, he needs to also be patient, time himself, and explode into standing. He was able to do this with the larger Carwin, so Velasquez should pose him fewer problems. In the later rounds, Lesnar has little to fear. While he is still relatively inexperienced, we’ve seen enough to have good reason to trust in Brock’s fitness and athleticism.
Finally, if Lesnar keeps the attitude he brought into the 2nd round, he will have the mental edge over Velasquez as the fight drags on and both fighters wear down. I can picture an exhausted Cain coming out for round 3 to face the smiling, bloodied Brock we witnessed yesterday, and suddenly doubting himself.
Lesnar wins, by Rd 3 TKO.
If Lesnar did what he was supposed to here and shot immediately, I wouldn’t be questioning him beating Cain. The fact that he thought he could stand and then reacted how he did to getting hit tells me A) he probably shouldn’t stand with guys B) his ego tells him he can. He’s not fast of foot or hand either, particularly compared with Cain.
I can see Cain strafing and dropping him a couple times, and demolishing him from the top (where Lesnar clearly doesn’t have anything). I see it as more winnable for Cain now in the aftermath of this than I did when I conceptualized what I thought Lesnar’s win last night would look like.
Are you forgetting the double leg that Shane shucked off earlier in the fight?
Brock tried to get it to the ground, but Shane defended well and then blasted Brock before he got a chance to shoot a second time.
Just watched it again and Brock actually tried to take him down twice in the first minute. The first time was before Carwin hit him and they both ended up flopping to the ground and Carwin stood back up before Brock could control him. The second time was moments after Carwin blasted him with that uppercut. Brock tried to shoot a desperation double and Carwin got underhooks and just ripped him off of his legs.
Brock was guilty of a number of things in that fight, but trying to stand and Wang with Carwin was not one of them.
Desperation shots aren’t going to be as effective as one done when a guy has full energy and mental awareness.
Lesnar should have pushed Carwin around even if he didn’t get him down. Push him to the cage. Force him to use his muscles and sap his strength. Instead he ended up trading punches with him and nearly got KOed. Foolish proposition.
I see Cain having little chance finishing Brock. Cain does not have the strength nor the power to be a significant threat in that regard. His best chance would be potshotting his way to a 5-round decisions, which still is not likely. I see Lesnar smothering Cain in a match that reminds some of the best of Randy Couture’s fence work.
I love how everyone is now going to try and spin that Cain or anyother HW can now beat Brock because Carwin the guy with sledgehammer fist hurt him what a joke.
Cain simply isn’t big or strong enough to handle Lesnar, if Carwin couldn’t put him away with his power right now I don’t see anyone else that can do the same.
Only way I see Brock losing is possibly to Carwin in a rematch only if he works on his cardio for the long haul. Even then at the rate that Brock is improving, by the time they face off again Lesnar might be the guy who wins the striking in that fight.
Try not to sound too much like you are a Lesnar super-mark ok?
Who are you talking to? Seems to me like people are having a balanced discussion about who might win the fight. Calm down.
He’s got a point Klown. The first 6 or 7 posts after the fight sat night were more about how bad Carwin and Lesnar looked giving no credit to Lesnar weathering one of the bigger storms you’ll see in mma, or Shane being able to bring Brock to the edge of defeat with his “lunch pale” fists…
Carwin stunned Brock with a weak looking left uppercut arm punch. It won’t take much to rattle Brock on the feet, he didn’t react that well to strikes in the second Mir fight either. Cain won’t mentally shut down like Mir and he won’t gas out like Carwin. Its an interesting fight.
Using the word weak and Carwin in the same sentence is ridiculous most HW’s would have been knocked out once he connected on them. Brock on the other hand took his best shot and looked fresh to start the second round.
No matter what, the Heavyweight division is surely going to be interesting for the next year.
I think Lesnar is the type of guy who won’t make the same
mistake twice. He got caught by Mir in their first fight and properly defended it in the second. I bet he will work off his back for a while so he can properly get up from now on.
Like I said in a previous thread…. Lesnar has a rare heart. An unbreakable will that you don’t even see in dominant champions like Anderson Silva or Georges St. Pierre.
I really don’t know who is going to win Lesnar/Cain. I’ve predicted every UFC main event right in 2010…. Including Penn/Edgar…. But I’m perplexed on how to predict this upcoming fight.
A rare heart? Come on 45. And now Lesnar is better than Silva and St. Pierre?
I love how now that you can stop hating on anything non-UFC since Fedor lost, you can now turn your attentions to anyone that is not Brock Lesnar? I guess you are a uber wrestling mark or someone who loves to cheer for the front runner.
And please, pat yourself on the back more with your “I’ve predicted everything perfectly”……what, are you an MMA prophet?
The only thing on Fight Opinion more tired and played out than 45’s know-it-all Zuffa shill routine is your unhinged stalker routine.
You really should refrain from reading 45’s posts if they bother you that much. You will be happier for it.
I am sure that if I stopped reading 45 Huddle’s comments, then I probably would be happy. But ignoring the problem and hoping that it will go away is not the way to solve a problem. I do not know how to “solve” 45 Huddle…just as I bet he does not understand me. So the best thing I can think to do is keep him in check when he gets out of control.
When did I say Leanar was better then Silva or GSP?
His heart is bigger.
Lesnar has been doing this for years. He had a lot of ugly wins in college. But he finds a way to win.
I would reckon 45 Huddle that a guy who has Brock’s college wrestling record that he was not “behind” that often and that he did not have to “overcome” adversity. People who dominate like he did in collegiate wrestling are usually the ones doing the dominating.
If what you say is true, and it might be since I did not follow Brock’s college wrestling career, can you provide some other examples of where Brock came from behind like he did in the Carwin fight? If you can give me solid examples, then maybe I will understand you more and agree with you on this point.
If Cain can get the fight past two rounds of grappling with Brock than I believe he can pull off the upset. Lesnar would likely gas out after two rounds and similar to Rothwell, Cain will ground and pound Lesnar into oblivion by way of superior cardio. My money is on Cain as I believe he has the fight intelligence to win this. I even suspect that Lesnar’s camp is worried about Cain and will try to drag it out for as long as possible. Dana White has to use every means possible to get this fight before the year ends because Cain has waited too long.
That assumes alot, first that Cain can survive enough to gas Brock who has gone 3 fll rounds in the past without any trouble.
And what’s even more ridiculous is a guy who’s fought the names Brock has in his first 5 UFC fights would duck a much smaller hw who doesn’t hit nearly as hard as the guy he just beat talk about reaching.
I would not be surprised if Cain won. His combination of wrestling ability and speed will make it difficult for Lesnar to control and muscle him around.
You can’t take down what you can’t catch, nor can you hit it too easily – especially with the subpar timing Lesnar has.
I’m split on this one right now, but the more time Lesnar has off, the better off he will be considering how unrefined he is.
Cain has no shot. He’s not the wrestler Lesnar is. That’s all it will come down to…
the new HW champion of the world.. Cain Velasquez!
Cain all the way!
I can’t believe the idiots that are giving brock the sure thing to win. Brock has only shown 2 things gnp and take downs. His subs are not the most impressive since he has only won sub win against a guy who was gassed and never been on his back before. Cain is by far going to be the biggest challenge for Brock without a doubt. We are going to see what we saw with the dos santos and Roy nelson fight. Roy Nelson has shown a hell of a lot better chin than I thought but he was virtual had no game plan other than to get the takedown and all attempts were all stop by dos santos. I see Cain landing a clean shot on Brock with his much quicker and accurate hand speed and seeing Brock just covering up because it is clear he doesn’t have strength to take clean shots without backing down like a girl. In the fast combs Cain will either try to tko Brock like carwin almost did, note Cain is not as great as striker as carwin but he is smarter and will know how to pace himself and not waste any shot making sure every blow matters. If that doesn’t work I easily see cain getting takedown. If randy couture could man handle Brock who 46 years old, Cain wont have as big as problem. Brock hasn’t gotten any stronger or more technical wrestler since that fight. I have already seen it in Ben rothwell fight who is 265 lbs takedown like every singe other guy Cain has faced he will get you to the ground one way or another. Like Brock if Cain gets that position he land devastating strikes in fact I see his gnp similar to chael sonnen were the pace will not let up all rounds. People are already forgetting cain’s great heart and chin as well, when he face Check Congo he was dazed but like natural muscle memory he just picked up Check Congo and slammed him down two seconds later and was in dominant position and brock does not hit nearly hard or technical as Check Congo. I see this fight ending only one way and that’s tko by cain. Sadly hate to bring this up but this is going to look just like Anderson Silva and chael sonnen fight with Cain looking like Chael nonstop pounding against a guy who cant take a hit.