Javier Mendez says it's a "great honor and challenge" for Cain Velasquez to fight Frank Mir
Posted on March 23, 2012, 01:21 PM by Joey SantosusHead Coach at American Kickboxing Academy, Javier Mendez, discusses several top fighters currently on the AKA roster, including former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velazquez. Set to square off with fellow former title holder Frank Mir at UFC 146, Mendez says it is an honor for Velasquez to be paired against the veteran.
Just one fight removed from his championship reign, Velasquez suffered his first professional defeat when he was dethroned by Junior dos Santos back in November. Now set to make his return on May 26th, a victory over Mir will solidify his place as the division's number-one contender, and set-up a showdown with the JDS vs. Alistair Overeem winner. Photo: Francis Specker
Javier Mendez
"Cain Velasquez vs. Frank Mir. I want to thank the UFC for giving us the number-one contendership on his first fight back from (Velasquez's) loss to Junior dos Santos. It's a great honor that they believe in Cain like that. It's a great challenge for us. Frank is great on the ground, he has great stand-up and all-around, it's a good fight for us. We're going to get ready for that fight. ... Three fight winning streak - Frank is on the rise."
Further Reading: Heavyweight Madness: Frank Mir could be the favorite against Cain Velasquez
Comments
Frank better be exercising that chin of his. I think Mir's boxing is over rated and he better take it to the ground quick if he wants to have any chance against Cain.
I agree with you on that, Mirs striking is ok, but he won't be able to stand with Cain, even on the ground I think cains wrestling will be overwhelming for Mir
As someone who has done grappling, I feel I can say that Lesnar only overwhelmed Mir because he outweighed him by 50 pounds and had practiced crushing half guard. He didn't want full guard, which allowed Mir more options, and even let Mir stand back up the one time he failed to get half guard on the takedown. Despite having top control for most of the fight in half guard, he never attempted to pass to side control. He just squeezed Frank like a vice in half guard so he couldn't even move.
Cain doesn't wrestle that way. While he has good top control, he's simply more active and mobile than Lesnar was when he was on top on Mir. He won't be concentrating on smothering him both because it's not his style and he doesn't have the weight to do it. I really don't think he, or anyone at HW now that Mir has put on some muscle, will be able to truly overwhelm Mir on the ground.
Just for giggles, because I thought 5-1 was a retarded betting line on this fight, I popped in my copy of UFC 3 to do the thing that they were doing to advertise the game. I put it on the hardest difficulty, simulation stamina, Mir vs. Velasquez, and simmed 25 fights. Here were my results, with a couple tidbits:
Velasquez won 14 fights (10(t)KOs, 1 Sub, 3 Dec).
Mir won 11 fights (1(tKO), 7 Sub, 3 Dec)
-Velasquez rocked Mir much more often than vice Versa, averaging more than once a fight, and 3 times as often as Mir rocking him.
-Mir averaged about 1 submission attempt a fight, in every submission win but one, that was all it took.
-Cain was willing to go to the ground with Mir, averaging about 8 Takedown Attempts per fight.
-Mir was the slightly more technical striker than Cain (~51% accuracy to Cain's 44%), with a variety of strikes, whereas Cain was pretty much just headhunting. In addition, the slight reach advantage coupled with Mir's straighter punching style made it difficult at times for Cain to get inside.
-Cardio was definitely an issue. 5 of 8 of Mir's finishes came by way of a first round submission, whereas 9 of 11 of Cain's came in the second or third rounds. Cain even hit an arm triangle in the second round when Mir gassed particularly bad.
-Despite mounting Cain repeatedly in fights (about 5 times a fight) all of Mir's submissions came from disadvantaged positions.
And on a final note, on Ultimate difficulty, the computer reverses transitions WAY too freaking much. Although it was amusing to hear Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg literally run out of things to say about it and simply stop announcing them because it happened so often.
That is all. Enjoy.
Cain is a better striker, better wrestler, and has very contentive grappling skils. Mir is obviously the better jits guy, but the cool thing about mma is you have to impose what you want to do in the fight, and mir should take it to the ground. Cain isn't easy to take down tho..... Cain's gas tank is beast, and hes as powwerful as anyone. I see him winning his fight ko or unam dec.