Joe Rogan on Cain Velasquez: “He stands out as the best”
When it comes to former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, many MMA fans may tell you he is one of the greatest, if not the greatest UFC heavyweight of all time, and judging by all the things he’s accomplished since his time with the organization, you really can’t blame them for saying that.
But out of all those people who believe this statement to be true, one man absolutely believes in his mind that Velasquez is the best MMA heavyweight ever; that man being UFC commentator Joe Rogan.
Recently, Rogan spoke about Velasquez and what makes him so special as a UFC heavyweight, shortly after discussing the ideal weight for a heavyweight in MMA on the latest edition of his Joe Rogan Experience Podcast.
“There’s a thought with the 265-pound weight class and the consensus thought seems to be that somewhere around 240 pounds is the magic number,” Joe Rogan said of Cain Velasquez (transcript via MMA Fighting). “That’s what they think. They think that 240 pounds is the amount of weight that you have where you’re strong enough that you can knock out any man but you have more endurance than a man that maybe weighs 265 or heavier and cuts down to 265. Now this has not been substantiated. The problem is, there hasn’t been a super powerful world championship athlete that weighed 265 pounds…
“It’s hard to say because there’s never been a 265-pound version of Cain Velasquez. Cain Velasquez, in my humble opinion, when I look at all of the different heavyweights that I’ve personally seen fight, Cain stands out as the best. The reason why Cain stands out as the best is because he has superhuman endurance and his ability to put a pace on guys. You would see these guys just wilt under the pressure.”
Though Rogan was eager in praising Velasquez, he also pointed out the array of injuries that have set back the former UFC champion’s career.
Rogan feels these injuries could be a testament to just how mentally tough Velasquez truly is, which is also that same mental toughness that made him such a dangerous fighter inside the cage.
“I think with Cain – and this is where it gets really interesting – what did him in is also brought him to the top: his mental toughness,” said Rogan. “His body started breaking down. He started having all these back injuries. He needed back surgery, multiple back surgeries, shoulder surgery, knee surgery, everything was getting f*cked up and I think it was getting f*cked up because he was working through pain and he has the ability to tolerate pain that most people don’t have. He’s just a f*cking animal but that’s also probably what led to him having this insane endurance. It’s the same kind of mental toughness.”
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