Cain Velasquez will always be known as one of the most impressive heavyweights that has ever stepped inside the Octagon.
As a former two-time UFC heavyweight champion, Velasquez has signature wins over the likes of Brock Lesnar who he mauled at UFC 121.
He had iconic rivalries also with Velasquez’s bounce back wins over Junior dos Santos showing just how relentless and punishing he could be.
For all of the impressive performances that he put in during his career, the gym stories surrounding the cardio king are the stuff of legend.
Velasquez’s former coach recently told the story of how even a highly regarded former UFC champion would refuse to train with him because of how difficult it was.
Luke Rockhold ‘hurdled’ the cage after sparring Cain Velasquez for one round says Javier Mendez
One of the many great training partners that Cain Velasquez worked alongside at AKA was the former UFC middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold.
Rockhold was a staple of the gym as another student under Javier Mendez, alongside the likes of Daniel Cormier and Khabib Nurmagomedov, who made it to the top of the sport.
Mendez stated in a recent appearance on Tim Welch’s Red Hawk Recap podcast that the American was able to spar with larger partners like Cormier because he was so skilled, but Velasquez was a different beast entirely.
“He was the only one that I’d put in with the heavyweights because he actually could do really decent against them, except Cain. Cain he could handle for one round. After that, not too much.”
The former 185-pound titleholder has acknowledged this in the past with Rockhold stating that sparring Velasquez ‘wasn’t fun’.
Mendez reflected on one of his favorite memories from back in the day where Rockhold made it perfectly clear that he’d had enough of going with the former two-time UFC heavyweight champion.
“I remember one time, Bob Cook put Luke in there with Cain and Luke is doing good cuz he’s good. He’s really doing good but he’s getting super tired because of the pressure Cain puts on him. Before the second round could even begin, Luke jumps right out of the cage.
“He’s like, ‘Screw you guys, I’m not going with this guy.’ He jumps right out of the cage. He’s like, ‘No, I’m doing one round. That’s it.’… It’s like he just did a hurdle over the cage. It was unbelievable.”
Javier Mendez accepts some of the blame for Cain Velasquez not realizing his true potential
Javier Mendez acknowledges that while Cain Velasquez did win the UFC heavyweight title on two occasions, his career didn’t reflect how good he truly was.
The 42-year-old battled a lot of injuries during his career with many believing that he pushed himself too hard in the gym rather than saving it for the Octagon.
Mendez stated during the podcast appearance that he takes some of the blame for Velazquez’s career shortcomings, along with several other parties.
“I say would’ve, could’ve, should’ve because he should be regarded as the greatest heavyweight of all time for damn sure and definitely be considered as a GOAT, for sure. But, too many things happened to him that were partly my fault, partly other people’s fault, partly his fault. Everybody had a part to blame in him not being what he should’ve been.”