Velasquez impresses with win over Kongo at UFC 99
Monday, June 15th, 2009Everyone knew that by facing Cheick Kongo at UFC 99, Cain Velasquez was looking at a large step up in competition. The former Arizona State wrestler has widely been regarded as one of the rising stars of the MMA world competing in the talent-thin heavyweight division. While he took a few shots from Kongo during the fight on Saturday, Velasquez proved to not only be able to take a hard shot but also proved to be superior to Kongo in the ground game. Velasquez showed a dominant ground game, and while he was unable to finish the fight by TKO or submission, the dominance was clear.
In the UFC heavyweight rankings released last week, Velasquez was ranked #10 while his opponent Kongo was ranked #6. There’s no doubt that this win will vault Velasquez in those same rankings as he looks for a possible title shot against the winner of Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir at UFC 100 on July 11.