Regardless of whether you bought into the “first Mexican heavyweight champion ever” hype, a Cain Velasquez win against Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 would be a big deal.
Though Velasquez has been touted as one of the best heavyweight prospects of all-time, he, in many ways, seemed to be fighting an uphill battle against Brock Lesnar. Velasquez has more technique and more experience despite being younger, but Lesnar had the size advantage, which many felt would give him the advantage in terms of wrestling and punching power.
Did it play out that way? Did Brock Lesnar use size to silence Cain Velasquez? Or did Cain do what Shane Carwin could not do this summer?
Cain Velasquez b. Brock Lesnar via TKO (strikes) at 4:12 of Round One
*Story of the fight: Cain was simply too talented a fighter for Brock Lesnar. Lesnar charged at Cain aggressively at the onset, but Cain was more than prepared to handle the freight train. Lesnar struggled to take Cain down from the get-go, and though he did execute two takedowns, he absolutely could not keep Velasquez on the mat.
Cain, in fact, actually brought Lesnar down at one point.
During an exchange, Velasquez appeared to catch Lesnar with a grazing (nothing that looked devastating), and Lesnar stumbled across the entire cage. Velasquez dropped the wobbled Lesnar with some hard shots and then unloaded an absolute beating from the top. As with the Carwin beatdown at UFC 116, Lesnar weathered the storm and got back to his feet. But Cain, unlike Carwin, did not tire, and he immediately dropped Lesnar again.
From there, Cain’s ground-and-pound was too much and the stoppage ended Lesnar’s title reign.