Cain Velasquez had said if he can’t perform at a top level he would walk away from the sport. What did you make of his performance Sunday, should he hang them up?
Frank Hyden, Columnist – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Well, I hate telling guys what to do with their careers and I don’t want to overreact too much, but it feels like it’s time. If he’s wanting to be a top level guy, I just don’t know if he can still do it anymore. You look at guys like Francis Ngannou and Stipe Miocic and I just don’t know if he can beat them. Maybe it’s that his body has betrayed him so much but it doesn’t seem to be in the cards.
Ultimately, though, it has to be up to him. I think he can still be a really good fighter, but I don’t think he’s in that great category anymore. I’d love to be proven wrong but it’s asking a whole lot for him to reclaim his former spot.
Christian Moore, MMATorch Contributor
I’m not sure really. Now, I don’t think he can get to the top of the mountain in the UFC, but I think he could still compete, and in Bellator, I believe would flourish. Now, if he thinks he has to be at the top of the UFC to be successful, then retirement is necessary. He could still have mega-fights in Bellator and make bank if he was interested in fighting the likes of Fedor, Cro Cop, or even Bader. As far as the UFC, not much is left for him to do.
Sean Covington, Columnist – Covington’s Corner
He should absolutely hang it up. Cain Velasquez had the footwork of newborn calf. I predicted he would lose quickly and that his career would come to a disappointing end. The only way Cain can fight again is it’s against easy opponents or if he completely changes everything, his camp, companies, EVERYTHING and goes to Bellator. In Bellator, he can have new and fresh opponents. The problem with Bellator is that fighters tend to be hungrier so competition could be even harder for him.
NEXT: TOP 10 MMA BUSTS
Michael Hiscoe, MMATorch Managing Editor
Part of me thinks he should retire just to follow through on everything he said before the fight. Another part of me wants to give him one more shot to see what he can do. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that his knee gave out and maybe if that didn’t happen he could have put on a better performance against Francis Ngannou. His next fight will need to be a step down in competition. A fight with Andrei Arlovski would probably tell us what we need to know about Cain Velasquez in 2019.
Leave a Reply