Cain Velasquez admits Brock Lesnar’s sheer size was a big concern before their fight.
The heavyweight duo met in a massively anticipated world title clash at UFC 121 in October 2010.
Cain Velasquez made it look easy as he scored a first-round TKO win over the WWE legend.
15 years later, the retired heavyweight icon has admitted he was worried about facing someone as big as Brock Lesnar in the moments before making the walk for their fight at the Honda Center in California.
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Cain Velasquez marvels at Brock Lesnar’s sheer size
Velasquez is regarded as one of the greatest heavyweights in MMA history after a 14-3 run in the sport.
Still, the 42-year-old is not afraid to admit he was thrown off by Lesnar’s hulking physique before their fight.
“Obviously, his size,” Velasquez said in an interview with Tim Kennedy when asked what was going through his mind in the moments before taking on Lesnar.
“His size, his power, and knowing how good of a wrestler he is.
“Again, okay, dangerous. Can be dangerous, especially with a certain style, for sure.
“But his massive size is like, ‘Wow, it’s a big human.’”
Cain Velasquez details Brock Lesnar fight camp
Aware Lesnar’s size and wrestling credentials could be a problem, Velasquez focused on getting back to his feet throughout camp.
Thankfully, a man who Joe Rogan described as an ‘insane tank of a human being’ was on his team.
UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier helped Velasquez fine-tune his defensive wrestling before UFC 121.
“I probably weighed in at, like, 240-something going in. My strong suits with him, I was very good at getting off on the bottom,” he added.
“We did this in college wrestling a lot. I was just very good at getting up from the bottom, so I knew if I were to get stuck there, then it could be a long night for me, but we worked on that over and over again with DC. We had another national champion heavyweight wrestler come in.
“We started in the worst positions, whatever [coach] Bob [Cook] said, in the middle of sparring, I had to lay down on my back with 16oz gloves and had DC lay on top of me and that’s where we started from multiple times a round.
“So I was very good at getting up from the bottom, especially for that camp, and I knew I just had to keep it on the feet with strikes. Just the pressure of everything, but it didn’t matter for me. My mentality was I didn’t care if I lost or won, I’m just going to give you what I have. That’s it. That’s all I could do.”