Cain Velasquez Shares the Mental Strategy That Crushed Brock Lesnar During UFC Championship Victory

It was on Oct. 23, 2010, when 14,856 fans filled the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA for UFC 121. The card drew an estimated 1.05 million pay-per-view buys because Brock Lesnar, the heavyweight champion, put his belt on the line against Cain Velasquez

Velasquez entered the main event as an unbeaten challenger at 8-0 and finished the fight 4:12 into the first round to extend his winning streak to nine. He also became the first fighter of Mexican descent to capture a major MMA heavyweight title. Recently, he has explained the mental approach behind that night, which centered on neutralizing Lesnar's biggest strength.

Cain Velasquez Explains How He Broke Brock Lesnar's Will

Velasquez built his game plan around Lesnar's wrestling and massive size. He even highlighted Lesnar's football background. Just to recap, Lesnar went to the Minnesota Vikings training camp in 2004, though he never played in a regular-season game.

"He's a freak of an athlete. He in the NFL, national champion wrestler, big dude, right? 265, pure muscle, he has power," Velasquez said.

To win the fight, Velasquez used a specific mental strategy to break the champion's confidence by immediately neutralizing his best weapon. "He took me down three times, but I got right back up. When you do that to somebody, that kills their will, man," Velasquez explained.

He noted that forcing Lesnar to waste energy on failed wrestling moves completely broke Lesnar’s spirit. "Especially how he does it when he picks people up. Like you're picking up 240 pounds, dropping down on the ground, and then within an instant they're up and away. That kills you. So I made it a standup game."

After that, Velasquez took complete control of the fight. First, he surprised Lesnar by taking him down to the mat. Lesnar panicked and started spinning around as Velasquez landed punches. 

Velasquez then hit him with a heavy knee and threw elbows on the ground, opening a big cut on Lesnar's face and forcing the referee to stop the fight.

Lesnar entered the bout at 5-1 as the UFC's biggest draw. It was his third consecutive title defense, having already successfully retained his belt against Frank Mir and Shane Carwin.

But Velasquez exposed a solid blueprint to defeat Lesnar. In his very next fight at UFC 141, Alistair Overeem followed that exact script. Lesnar suffered an identical first-round TKO defeat after failing to secure a takedown and getting overwhelmed by strikes on the feet.