Given that it’s been 30 months since Cain Velasquez last competed, it’s understandable that one might be skeptical as to how the former UFC titleholder will perform this weekend.
It wasn’t long ago that Velasquez was on track to become the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time. He won 13 of his first 14 fights, making short work of names like Brock Lesnar and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira before going on to win his eventual best-of-three series against Junior dos Santos. Unfortunately for Velasquez, injuries piled up and he’s managed to make the walk to the Octagon just two times over the last five-plus years, and one of those appearances was a submission loss to Fabricio Werdum that ended his second reign as UFC champion.