Cain Velasquez just revealed what Daniel Cormier secretly told him about Brock Lesnar 👀 In 2010 Lesnar was the UFC heavyweight champ and outweighed Cain by 20 pounds. Cain survived the early rush and stopped him in round one at UFC 121. On the Shawn Ryan Show, Cain said DC later admitted: “Man, when you fought him, I didn’t tell you, but I was just like, I don’t want to be fighting that guy.” Eight years later DC called Lesnar into the cage at UFC 226 and got shoved across it. The fight never happened. Who wins DC vs Lesnar in 2018? #danielcormier #brocklesnar #ufc
Cain Velasquez says Daniel Cormier once privately admitted he did not want to share a cage with Brock Lesnar. Velasquez made the claim on the Shawn Ryan Show while looking back at his 2010 title win over Lesnar.
According to Velasquez, Cormier told him after the fight: "Man, when you fought him, I didn't tell you, but I was just like, I don't want to be fighting that guy." The comment is Velasquez's account of a private conversation, and Cormier is not quoted in the story.
Velasquez took the heavyweight title from Lesnar at UFC 121 on October 23, 2010, stopping him in the first round after surviving an early rush. Lesnar was champion and outweighed Velasquez by about 20 pounds going in. Velasquez, now 44, is 14-3 and an American Kickboxing Academy product known for relentless pace: he averages 6.37 significant strikes per minute at 57 percent accuracy and 5.13 takedowns per 15 minutes. His most recent recorded fight was a first-round knockout loss to Francis Ngannou on February 17, 2019.
Cormier, 47, is 22-3 and carries the nickname DC. He lands 4.25 significant strikes per minute at 52 percent accuracy and averages 1.83 takedowns per 15 minutes. His most recent recorded fight was a unanimous-decision loss to Stipe Miocic at UFC 252 on August 15, 2020, which followed a fourth-round TKO loss to Miocic a year earlier.
Lesnar, 49, stands at 5-3 with one no contest. His most recent recorded fight was the no contest against Mark Hunt at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016, a result later overturned. Before that, he lost by first-round TKO to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 in December 2011, a year after the Velasquez defeat.
Eight years after UFC 121, Cormier called Lesnar into the cage at UFC 226 and was shoved across it. The two never fought.
Why it matters
- The anecdote adds a layer to a fight that never happened: Cormier's reported private doubts sit alongside his public callout in 2018.
- Size is the obvious gap on paper. Lesnar is six-foot-three with an 81-inch reach, while Cormier is five-foot-eleven with a 72-inch reach, a nine-inch reach difference and four inches in height.
- Lesnar's takedown rate of 3.9 per 15 minutes is more than double Cormier's 1.83, though Cormier's wrestling pedigree is part of the debate.
