Cain Velasquez out of BodogFIGHT, Zentsov's opponent unknown

By Keith Mills

If the name Cain Velasquez isn’t familiar yet it should be soon. This American Kickboxing Academy up-and-comer made an impression in Strikeforce last October defeating Jesse Fujaczyk in 1:58 of round 1 as his MMA debut. Just five weeks later Cain defeated Jeremiah Constant in BodogFIGHT Season 2, the lead-up to their next pay-per-view show which takes place in April. His win over Constant set Cain up to face for his third MMA fight none other than Roman Zentsov of the Red Devil team. A video of both Cain’s fight ant Roman’s fight are archived on Bodogfight.com through the pay-per-view show.

Unfortunately as Cain now reveals he will not be fighting on BodogFIGHT’s pay-per-view after all.

KM: Can you describe your fight against Jeremiah Constant? CV: I could have done better, I wasn’t happy with my performance. It threw me off the guy was real funky. It threw me off and made the match look sloppy.

KM: Would you consider BodogFIGHT or Strikeforce your big break? CV: Strikeforce was.

KM: Tell me about that fight. CV: It was short and I was in control the whole time. I shot in and controlled it on the ground and the ref stopped it.

KM: The downside is that it is hard to form an opinion of you as a fighter. What can you tell us about you as a fighter? CV: They show I have something but I need to prove it against somebody a lot tougher to show what I have.

KM: DO you think you are going to have that opportunity against Roman Zentsov in April? CV: I was supposed to fight him but I broke my hand in that last fight in Bodog so I don’t think that is going to happen.

KM: How long do you think that will keep you out of the cage? CV: I don’t know. I’m going to re-check it in two weeks. I’ve been working out, I just haven’t been able to spar and get ready. I’ve been rolling and hitting mits, I just haven’t been able to spar yet. Hopefully when I get cleared I can fight in a show like Strikeforce or maybe later in Bodog but this one against Zentsov is not going to happen. It kind of sucks.

KM: With Strikeforce and Bodog what kind of contract are you under? What is your availability once healed? CV: I think I have one more fight with Bodog.

KM: Can you tell us what it is like training out of AKA? CV: It is great. I feel we are like a family. Training is good and we help each other out. I think I am blessed to have a school like AKA. I’m originally from Arizona but once I started training over here I moved here. When you get there you have to prove yourself to the guys if you want to work and if you can bring something to the fight game.

KM: I know you have a wrestling background but couldn’t find much on that. Can you describe your background? CV: After high school I wrestled at junior college in Iowa where I won a Junior College National Championships. From there I was recruited to go to Arizona State and went there for three years and was a two-time All-American.

KM: Were you happy with the way BodogFIGHT presented you or did they miss out on anything that can tell us ‘who is Cain Velasquez’? CV: I’m pretty quiet and do my talking in the ring. I just like to work out and train. I fell in love with training and fighting. I’m a hard worker and have a lot of talent.

KM: What was the ‘Bodog experience’ like? CV: It was a lot of shooting with a video camera, going to different places in St. Petersburg. Filming, interviews…that was pretty much it.

KM: Was that what you expected? CV: Yeah. Trevor Prangley who was down in Costa Rica (for Season 1) told me what it was like so I went off what he told me. That got me mentally prepared for what was going to happen before the fight.

KM: Any sponsors to thank? CV: Score Clinic, Tapout, and Cross Fit San Jose.