Is Cain Velasquez’s next fight Antonio Minotauro Nogueira or a title shot?

Published on: 26th October, 2009

Is Cain Velasquez's next fight Antonio Minotauro Nogueira or a title shot?  | read this item

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Cain Velasquez was dominant for the second straight performance at UFC 104 defeating former IFL heavyweight champion Ben Rothwell in dominant fashion. Rothwell who was 40 pounds heavier, a few inches taller and was supposed to give the former Arizona state wrestler his biggest challenge was taken down and beaten just like his last opponent Cheick Kongo.

Now Velasquez has a few likely options in his next fight and we want to break them down and have our viewers decide who you would like to see him face next.

Is a Title Shot next for Cain?

The first option right now seems to be the most logical, a fight for the winner of the of the Shane Carwin vs Brock Lesnar heavyweight title fight at UFC 106. While this seems to be the most likely option, Dana White did not want to commit at the UFC 104 post fight press event.

White who made the mistake of saying that he was giving the next middleweight title shot to Dan Henderson after UFC 100 had the statement blow up in his face after Anderson Silva showed no interest in fighting the former PRIDE and dual champion again. We do not know if Cain will get the winner of that fight, but it is a option at the moment.

Cain’s manager Javier Mendez broke down the potential matchups against both fighters at the UFC 104 post fight press event as well. He first broke down Lesnar and said that his size could be a problem with Cain’s takedowns, but said that he also feels his fighters cardio would eventually be the key to a win over the current heavyweight champion.

“Lesnar is an extremely hard fight for us,” Mendez said. “We are going to definitely have to win the standup game and the kicking game and then the wrestling. The size of Brock could potentially neutralize us, but Cain’s cardio is going to neutralize him, so it’s going to be a really, really interesting fight.”

Mendez also spoke about a potential matchup agains Shane Carwin who has a lot of similarities as Lesnar, but he said the gameplan would be completly different against the undefeated heavyweight.

“Should Carwin get past Lesnar it’s going to be a different fight,” Mendez said. “We can’t attack the same as against Lesnar because Carwin is to be respected because of his incredible power and his wrestling is top notch. We will have to take a different path because he is a different fighter with different strengths.”

We don’t know if this is his next option, but it will be interesting to see if he will face off against the winner of the UFC 106 main event title fight after only 7 fights.

Photo: ESPN.com

Antonio Minotauro Nogueira is in the same exact predicament that Cain Velasquez is right now after a big win, he is waiting for a title shot against the winner of the Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin bout at UFC 106.

We know both have good arguments for a title shot next, but they could settle their argument with a fight in late 2009 or early 2010.

If Cain defeated Nogueira it would be by far the biggest win of his career. If Nogueira defeated Cain he would eliminate the best possible option for a title shot, but his old nemesis Frank Mir may also jump back into the mix with a win over Cheick Kongo at UFC 107.

Other possible options next for Cain?

Pat Barry is coming off of a big win over Antoni Hardonk at UFC 104, but does not seem ready to face off against Cain at the moment due to his lack of experience on the ground.

Frank Mir if he defeats Cheick Kongo at UFC 107 may be another option for Cain and would be a stiff test as well. We know he will not be facing Kongo again, not after the 251 punches he landed on his head at UFC 99.

I would love to hear a few suggestions from you guys as well, let me know in the comment section who else you think would be a possible option for Cain Velasquez.

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Photo of Cain Velasquez by Jeff Hedges/ Zuffa

 Alberto Martinez "The Narcisist" is the founding owner of URDirt.com. If you would like to post on the front page or in our New "Fan Jab" section all you need to do is register. Read more from this author

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