If you are a new fan to MMA or the UFC, then chances are you might not have heard of Cain Velasquez or watched him fight before. That’s because Cain hasn’t been very active on the roster for the past few years because of his health and injuries that has plagued his fighting career of late.
Cain Velasquez will make his return to the Octagon after nearly two years as he gets to headline the UFC ESPN Fight Night Card in Phoenix, Arizona. The fights will take place on Feb 17 at the Talking Stick Resort Arena and will be headlined by Cain Velazquez vs. Francis Ngannou.
Cain is the former UFC Heavyweight champion and is widely considered as the greatest heavyweight in the game. He has excellent cardio, fantastic wrestling and is a top striker in the heavyweight division, making him hard to beat when he is healthy.
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The problem is Cain hasn’t been very healthy in recent years and his fight record in the UFC looks like this. Cain has fought once in 2011, 2015 and 2016. He hasn’t fought at all in 2014, 2017 and 2018. There were reports that he was considering calling time on his career because of his numerous injuries but UFC fans will get to see him once again as he looks to take out Francis Ngannou.
This isn’t an easy match up for Cain who will have to shake off ring rust and make sure he doesn’t get hit with a haymaker from Ngannou. A fit Cain shouldn’t have any problem in taking out Ngannou but with a 2 year hiatus, no one is sure which Cain Velasquez will show up.
Cain is fighting in his home state of Arizona and will want to have a dominate performance that tells the heavyweight division, the real champ is back. Ngannou believes that if he defeats Cain, he can get a title shot but the same cannot be said of Cain as even if he wins, he will not fight his friend and training partner Daniel Cormier who is the current heavyweight champ!
There are a number of exciting fights on the Arizona card. The co-main event is a lightweight fight between Paul Felder and James Vick.
Some of the other fights include Cortney Casey against Cynthia Calvillo, Alex Caceres against debutant Kron Gracie and Myles Jury against Andre Fili.
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