Cain Velasquez (born July 28, 1982 in Salinas, California) is an American MMA fighter of Mexican descent. He is a two-time All-American collegiate wrestler from Arizona State and a Junior College National Champ at Iowa Central Community College. He is a two-time 5A state champion in Arizona for Kofa High School located in Yuma, Arizona under Shawn Rustad and Marty Niblo. He currently competes in the UFC in the heavyweight division. As of April 2010, he is ranked as the #3 heavyweight in the world by Sherdog.

UFC career

Cain Velasquez made his UFC debut against Brad Morris at UFC 83 and won due to strikes in the first round.

In his next fight, Cain Velasquez defeated Jake O’Brien at UFC Fight Night 14 by TKO in round one.

Cain Velasquez then faced Denis Stojnić at UFC Fight Night 17 and the fight was stopped in round two with Velasquez earning the victory by TKO.

Cain Velasquez’s next fight was in UFC 99 against former kickboxer and established UFC heavyweight Cheick Kongo. Velasquez was once again dominant and won the bout by unanimous decision.

Cain Velasquez’s next opponent was scheduled to be Shane Carwin for the number one contendership of the UFC Heavyweight Championship held by Brock Lesnar. On August 20 however, it was announced Cain Velasquez would no longer be fighting Shane Carwin at UFC 104 for the opportunity to challenge Brock Lesnar, as the UFC have rescheduled Carwin to face Lesnar at UFC 106.

Velasquez was told he would be fighting Ben Rothwell at UFC 104. Cain Velasquez was 7–0 after defeating Ben Rothwell at UFC 104 with a TKO at 0:58 of Round 2.

Cain Velasquez was booked to face former Pride Heavyweight Champion and former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on January 2, 2010 at UFC 108. Dana White had promised the winner a shot at the UFC Heavyweight Title after Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin fight, though Carwin is now scheduled to fight Frank Mir at UFC 111. The bout between Velasquez and Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira was cancelled due to Nogueira’s staph infection. The bout was then moved to February 21, 2010 at UFC 110.

Going into the fight, some media sources predicted that Nogueira would take the victory due to a supposed lack of striking power for Velasquez. They were proven wrong when Velasquez defeated Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 110 via knockout (Punches) at 2:20 of round 1. In doing so, Velasquez became the second man alongside Frank Mir to defeat Noguiera by way of knockout, and this lead to him becoming the standby fighter for a heavyweight title shot if Shane Carwin will be unable to compete against the champion Brock Lesnar. Cain Velasquez, who knocked out Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in February at UFC 110, will fight the winner of the Carwin-Lesnar bout that will come to the UFC 116 event in Las Vegas on July 3. Per White, he’ll likely not take another fight in between and instead will wait out the winner of that fight to get his shot.”Cain’s waiting in the wings now,” White said. “Cain is probably going to wait for the next shot.”
Personal life

Cain and his girlfriend welcomed a daughter named Coral Love Velasquez on May 6, 2009. The couple got engaged in Australia after UFC 110.

As a proud Mexican-American, Velasquez speaks English and Spanish fluently and has been a guest star on the Spanish-language TV networks Telemundo and Univision. He was also seen in the Wisin & Yandel’s official music video of “Te Siento”.

Cain, who trains at AKA, won the BJJ blue belt championships roughly a year after starting submission grappling. He currently holds a purple belt under Dave Camarillo.