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Cain Velasquez on UFC 121 marketing: “It just makes sense”
By Zach Arnold | October 21, 2010
Video courtesy of MMAFighting.com.
ARIEL HELWANI: “Cain, obviously a lot of attention on you and I know you’re not so fond of doing the interviews and having the spotlight. How are you dealing with all of this?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “It’s not so bad, you know. I think with every fight, just more and more media stuff that you have to do and it kind of gets you ready for this moment. So, I mean, and also you know having the Primetime (crew) following me around for, you know, three weeks straight kind of definitely gets you ready.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Brock clearly didn’t seem to be a big fan of having Primetime, the camera crews follow him around. What was the experience like for you?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “I was kind of the same way. It took some time to get used to but just knowing you know just having to work with them, you know, they need the shots that they need to make this show look good and just to get out of your hair so I mean I pretty much did what they needed me just to do that.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “I know you are very private. Was it hard for you to sort of put your family out there and things like that?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “Ummm, you know, a little bit. I always think, you know, it would be kind of good you know to have them be a part of this and maybe kind of bad to not really have them in it or whatever so I was kind of torn between the two but I talked it over with my fiancée and she’s like, yeah, we can definitely do that. It was no big deal. I mean, for me, I love it that they were a part of it.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “It’s funny because a year ago, almost exactly a year ago was UFC 104 and you fought Ben Rothwell in Los Angeles and I feel like that was sort of a turning point for you. You were co-main event, a lot of people were looking at you but plus that’s when we first started to get the push from the promotion in terms of like you being a Hispanic fighter, Mexican descent and all that. Now, it’s really coming out there. Are you surprised at how much they’re pushing it? You know, it’s the main part of the promo, you come on before Brock does.”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “Yeah, I mean, it definitely was. When I first saw the promo, yeah, I was kind of surprised but… I mean, for this fight being here and having, you know, a lot of people here of Mexican descent, I mean it really helps it out and it just makes sense.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Is that part of your motivation to become the first Heavyweight champion of Mexican descent to hold the title?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “You know, just that I am Mexican, I mean… just me being in this sport, I mean I always wanted to be the champion, this was the whole reason why I got into this sport. I had this opportunity now and I’m not going to let it slip by.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “What did you think of Brock Lesnar’s last fight against Shane Carwin?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “I thought it was a good fight, you know, he definitely did show a lot of heart where I don’t think a lot of guys could have survived that first round, he did, came back and got the submission so I mean it just shows that he’s always improving. I expect a much better Brock Lesnar than he’s showed on that night.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “But more to that point, you got guys like Brendan Schaub who say that he only surrounds around himself with wrestlers and he did bring in Pat Berry this time, but that he’s not doing enough to evolve. Do you agree with that or do you think that he’s improved from fight to fight?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “He’s improving fight to fight. He hasn’t been in the sport that long and I mean there’s only room for improvement and he’s at the right age now where he’s peaking now, where he’s (coming) at his prime so I only see him improving.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “A lot of talk about the fact that he’s actually 265 right now, he might come even under 265 come weigh-ins. Do you think that’s a conscious decision on his part because you are smaller than him to be a little leaner?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “Ummm… you know, what he said with whatever illness he had, he changed his diet, I think it had something to do with it but I think that’s better for me, you know, instead of you know having somebody that close to weight rather than having somebody come in at 285 or 290, you know, around there.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “At the end of the day, how do you envision the fight playing out?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “Man, I’m expecting a five round war. I’ve said this a bunch of times, that’s what I’ve trained for, that’s what I’m expecting with my hand raised at the end, definitely.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Cain saves the UFC marketing machine for me here. His nice demeanor is what makes this Mexican marketing thing tolerable.
And don’t get me wrong. I’m not upset by the marketing. I am still going to buy the PPV. I just think it’s weird to pander to a certain demographic so blatantly like the UFC has done here.
This is all such a non-story. Who really cares? This kind of ethnicity driven hype has worked in boxing for years; how do you think Oscar De La Hoya got so rich? He cultivated the Mexican fanbase (serious fight fans), and the UFC wants to do the same. I was impressed that so many people showed up at Cain’s rally in LA; it bodes well for the future of mma in this country; the more Latinos who compete in the sport, the more Latino fans, and more money, which leads to bigger purses for everyone (in theory).
It IS a non story.
But only in imaginary/hopefull land.
The truth is that people are racists.
Its our natural disposition.
So its always the same ole front page,
and infinitely fascinating every time,
because you can never really figure yourself out.
This will work well for the UFC!