Cormier: Cain Velasquez Is The King Of Mexico

UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez will return to action tonight (Saturday June 13th, 2015) in front of a crowd full of his fans. Mexico City, Mexico plays host to the end of his 18-month absence, and the title holder will look to eliminate the interim champ and new-found enemy Fabricio Werdum. Rather uncharacteristically for a Velasquez fight, there has been a lot of tension brewing between the Mexican boss and the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu master.

It all stemmed from an interview with ‘Vai Cavalo’, where he claimed that Velasquez was an American, not a Mexican. For obvious reasons this has caused ripples in Velasquez’s camp, and has made the bout all the more interesting. Somewhat unlike the fans in the USA, ‘CV’ is revered by the fans in Mexico, a national hero by all accounts, as Daniel Cormier tells MMAFighting.com:

“People back in the States don’t get it,” said Cormier, “Down here, Cain is the king. It’s kind of hard to grasp until you see it firsthand.”

“I would hear stories about how, when he came here, he gets mobbed,” Cormier said. “But now being here these last few days, and watching how people interact with him and see him, it’s on a whole different level. It’s like soccer players around the world. It’s not like this is just another MMA guy. Some of the biggest stars in the world, that’s the way he’s treated here in Mexico.”

Werdum’s trash talking earned him a chorus of boos at the UFC 188 open workouts, further displaying the local support for the champ Velasquez. Cormier continues:

“He verbalizes it to us, to his friends, to the people who are closest to him,” Cormier said. “He’ll tell it to you. He’s very excited to be here fighting, what it means to be here in this country, to fight for the people in his country. Cain Velasquez doesn’t fight for himself, he fights for his family and the fans in Mexico City and the fans in the United States too. It’s not like all of a sudden he’s, ‘I’m just a Mexican guy,’ he’s a Mexican-American, he fights for all of his fans, but it means something for him to come here and fight for his people.”

Along with how dominant Velasquez has been in the past, the support from the fans that will likely buoy him on fight night, and ‘Vai Cavalo’s’ controversial comments, it’s starting to look like the interim ‘junior’ champion may be in trouble. Then again, he could be inside of the champion’s head, and we might see Werdum pull off one of the biggest MMA upsets this year. Velasquez’s AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) team mate says that just isn’t going to happen:

“We all saw the Embedded show, we all knew what happened, It’s not a good thing to piss off the champ. You’re in for a world of hurt. If Werdum thinks he’s in Cain’s head, he’s wrong. Cain holds his emotions back, he’s more focused than anything, he’s reserved, he’s business. He knows there’s a lot on the line, he knows he has to go out there and perform, he wants to get in there, so he’s going to use Werdum’s comments as fuel, but it’s not going to mess with his game plan.”

Just hours removed from the biggest night in Mexico’s young romance with MMA and the UFC, it sounds as though the champion of the heavyweights is focused, and unmoved by Werdum’s trash talk. The octagon door will close in the main event of UFC 188 tonight, and the lead-up to the fight will essentially dissolve in to the ether. Only one thing will count at that stage, who can leave the cage with the strap.

The fans will be behind Velasquez.