Having seen just about all of them, Ultimate Fighting Championship color commentator Joe Rogan believes former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is the best heavyweight he’s ever witnessed.
Rogan’s first-hand observation of the UFC heavyweight division dates back to the very beginning; he got his start with the promotion as a backstage interviewer in 1997 at UFC 12, the very event where the first UFC heavyweight champion, Mark Coleman, was crowned. On a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, he discussed the current landscape in the UFC’s heavyweight division, including the optimal weight for fighters.
“There’s a thought with the 265-pound weight class and the consensus thought seems to be that somewhere around 240 pounds is the magic number,” Rogan said. “That’s what they think. They think that 240 pounds is the amount of weight that you have where you’re strong enough that you can knock out any man but you have more endurance than a man that maybe weighs 265 or heavier and cuts down to 265.”
Rogan then went on to say that the former two-time heavyweight champion Velasquez was the best fighter he’d ever witnessed due to his endurance and ability to pressure his opponents.
“Now this has not been substantiated. The problem is, there hasn’t been a super powerful world championship athlete that weighed 265 pounds. It’s hard to say because there’s never been a 265-pound version of Cain Velasquez. Cain Velasquez, in my humble opinion, when I look at all of the different heavyweights that I’ve personally seen fight, Cain stands out as the best.
“The reason why Cain stands out as the best is because he has superhuman endurance and his ability to put a pace on guys,” Rogan added. “You would see these guys just wilt under the pressure.”
Velasquez is training again at American Kickboxing Academy in hope of a return to the Octagon next year. Assuming that return goes as planned for the oft-injured star, it will be excellent timing, as his teammate and current heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is planning to retire in March 2019.