Quick Question: Where do you rank Cain Velasquez and Cheick Kongo after UFC 99?

Published on: 15th June, 2009

Quick Question: Where do you rank Cain Velasquez and Cheick Kongo after UFC 99? | read this item

At UFC 99 Cain Velasquez defeated Cheick Kongo with a punishing ground and pound game. The fight answered a lot of questions on both fighters, but also raised a lot of new questions as well.

Cain Velasquez showed that he can rebound quickly when he is rocked and can compete with the top Heavyweights in the division, but he also raised a lot of questions about his stand up. He was rocked twice while attempting to trade with Kongo and may have exposed a small hole in his stand up defense.

Cheick Kongo showed that he can deliver punishment, but showed his takedown defense still needs a lot of work. If Kongo is serious about a title shot he will need to fix this aspect of his game fast. Frank Mir, Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin all have good ground games and there is no way anyone would think he could beat them without being able to defend the takedown.

So my question to the fans is; where do you rank both of these fighters in the Heavyweight division after UFC 99?

Narcisist is the Co-owner of UR Dirt and is the designer, editor and author. URDirt.com is a MMA blog that covers the UFC, WEC, StrikeForce, DREAM and several other Mixed Martial Art promotions. Read more from this author

Readers Comments

shahal says:

June 15, 2009 at 9:56 am (Quote)

The way i see it..if Shane was on either side he wouldve won.
If he was Kongo..Cain couldnt take his punches and move on.
If he was against Kongo he wouldve taken it to the ground np being the good wrestler that he is..

Where do i see em?
not at top 3 that’s for sure..

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- Serial says:
  
  June 15, 2009 at 3:00 pm (Quote)
  
  @shahal, agreed Kongo is going to be a gate keeper as long as he can’t defend a takedown and Cain just needs work on his standup defense but he is top 5 in the UFC not overall
  
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Quiff says:

June 15, 2009 at 3:00 pm (Quote)

Cain has no jaw he got rocked with jabs for christs sakes

Im not impressed at all by this kid I think he is overated

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- Serial says:
  
  June 15, 2009 at 3:01 pm (Quote)
  
  @Quiff, DOESNT HAVE A JAW? WTF RU TALKING ABOUT?
  He survived 2 big blast that would have KO’d anyone else
  
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Noneya Business says:

June 15, 2009 at 3:30 pm (Quote)

Cain is NOT even top 5 in the UFC. This guy is NOT beating Brock, Frank, Shane, Nogueira, or Gonzaga . I don’t think he has the ability to beat McCully or Hearing at this point. In the future, maybe these last two. But as long as Brock and Mir are in the game, he isn’t wearing a belt, that’s for sure.

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Jason says:

June 15, 2009 at 4:07 pm (Quote)

I was impressed with Cain but it’s too early for a title shot he punished a contender for 3 rounds but he is only in his 6 fight. This guy is the real deal but just not yet

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Jake says:

July 3, 2009 at 2:04 pm (Quote)

when talking about cain’s jaw you have to take into account who was hitting him. cheick fought and defeated arguably the best striker in heavyweight history, mirko cro cop. two big hooks from cheick landed perfectly but cain immediately recovered and took him down. he can certainly hang with the lower level heavyweights and certainly be a challenge for higher ranked guys as well.

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