There’s no ill will between Cain Velasquez and the UFC.
The former heavyweight champion Velasquez recently announced his retirement from MMA, and his new multi-year deal with WWE. After falling out of relevance in the MMA world, he’s immediately relevant in the WWE world, and is slated for a big match against Brock Lesnar at WWE Crown Jewel.
UFC President Dana White was asked about Velasquez’s jump to WWE after the UFC Boston show Friday night, and completely endorsed the move. In addition, White says he even saw it coming.
“I’m happy for him,” White said. “Cain’s had some rough injuries that have happened. The guy’s been a professional athlete a long time, a collegiate athlete, a super nice guy. When it looks like it’s the end of your career and you’re looking at what’s next. It’s hard for these guys to figure out ‘what do I do?’ I always like ‘How is Cain going to wrestle? He’s having problems with his body in MMA.’ Then I saw him doing (lucha libre) wrestling, and I said ‘god damn, he’s pretty good. That’s cool.’ Then I got a call from WWE and I knew what they were thinking. I was totally cool with it. They didn’t even ask me, they were just looking for Cain, I figured that’s what they were going to do. I’m happy for him, I’m happy for his family. I hope he does well like Ronda did and makes a lot of money and the fans love him.”
A transition to pro wrestling wasn’t unexpected for Cain. He spent time at the WWE Performance Center in 2018, and worked a couple of matches in AAA this year. He joins the likes of Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, Matt Riddle, Bobby Lashley, Brock Lesnar and others under WWE contract with pro MMA experience.
Cain Velasquez is scheduled to take on Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WWE Crown Jewel on October 31. Fightful will have full, live coverage of the show, including a post-show podcast.
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