Cain Velasquez: AKA fighters never have a bad performance
Now that the fight is over and his friend, training partner and wrestling coach Daniel Cormier got the job done and walked away victorious from last weekend's UFC 187, Cain Velasquez can admit that he was a little nervous for DC. Cormier, of course, pulled out of a June 6 fight with Ryan Bader to take a light heavyweight title bout against Anthony Johnson, May 23, on short notice, when former champion Jon Jones was stripped of the belt.
Velasquez and the rest of the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) believed Cormier was the better fighter and knew he had to take the opportunity, but didn't love the notice. "We were a little worried about hurrying the camp, making it shorter, since he was supposed to fight Ryan Bader, June 6. But, we still felt good about the fight," he tells FOX Sports.
"And, he went in there and did it. He did such a great job. It felt good to see that guy go in there and get it. It was definitely a great night for him."
To the heavyweight champion, who finally gets to defend his title again on June 13 in Mexico City against Fabricio Werdum following a long lay-off due to injuries, Cormier's success, even on short notice, was a testament to the way AKA trains its fighters to always be ready. The AKA team, co-founded by Bob Cook, who also manages many of its fighters, drew the ire of UFC president Dana White years ago over issues of athletes not wanting to sign over name and likeness rights to the promotion.
The disagreement led to, at least initially, a group firing of AKA fighters from the UFC. "We're looking for guys who want to work with us and not against us, and frankly I'm just so [expletive] sick of this [expletive] it's not funny," White said at the time.
Recently, after long injury set backs for the likes of Velasquez and Khabib Nurmagomedov, White criticized AKA for using "stone age" training methods, which contributed to their fighters being injured, often.
White didn't list any specifics in his criticism, or even say whether he'd ever spent time observing the AKA training room, and Velasquez believes the bashing was out of place. According to the champ, there's a reason that AKA now has two world champions and number one contenders in two other divisions.
"I don't think you ever really see any of us show up to a fight and have a bad performance," he says.
"We're always ready to fight. And to get ready for a fight, you have to fight. Boxers box to get ready to fight, wrestlers wrestle. We have so much we have to do to get ready, but fighting is one of them."
Furthermore, Velasquez makes a point to say that many of the injuries that have kept him out for long periods during his career, happened while competing in the Octagon, not while training on the AKA mats.
"Personally, most of my injuries were ones that I sustained during fights in the UFC, not in practice," he insists.
"We do what we have to do to be ready, in practice, and I think our results are good."
