"No one could have beaten him" - Daniel Cormier claims Cain Velasquez would be the UFC's undisputed greatest heavyweight ever without injuries

Daniel Cormier believes former AKA teammate Cain Velasquez would've been the greatest UFC heavyweight by far if not for his long history of injuries. Lingering issues from various injuries meant Velasquez would see a significant reduction in activity toward the latter end of his career.

Talking to former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling on his podcast, 'DC', who himself is a two-division UFC champion, argued:

"[Velasquez] was the best. I have never seen anything like it. I still haven't seen anything like it. The training, the skill set, the ability. He really could do it all. If he didn't have all of those injuries, he would be by far the greatest heavyweight of all time. No one would have beaten him."

Addressing how Velasquez incurred the career-altering injuries, Cormier said:

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"He was one of those kids who had nothing; he had so little, so when he would get mixed up with people, no matter what they told him to do, he would do it. So, the strength coach told him to leg press 800 pounds, he did it... He worked and he worked himself into injury after injury after injury."

Check out Daniel Cormier's comments on Cain Velasquez below:

Velasquez is a former UFC heavyweight champion and a dominant one at that. First claiming the 265-pound gold with a first-round knockout over WWE legend Brock Lesnar in 2010, he would then lose the title to Junior dos Santos, only to avenge the loss in 2012 to be crowned a two-time champion.

Unfortunately, his career was plagued by injuries and arguably cost him valuable years in his prime. This meant he would only fight thrice after his second title defense in 2013 until calling it a career in 2019 after a KO loss to Francis Ngannou.

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When Cain Velasquez opened up about his "battles" with Daniel Cormier

Cain Velasquez and Daniel Cormier are among the greatest fighters AKA has ever produced. During a 2023 appearance on the JAXXON PODCAST, the 46-year-old reflected on his grueling training sessions with Cormier.

When Quinton Jackson asked whether he was outperforming 'DC' during training sessions, Velasquez stayed humble and explained how they elevated each other's game:

"We had some battles in there. Some days I get the better of him, you know, and some days he would, and that's what pushed us to where we got to. Because you thought one day, 'Yes, I got it.' you know, like it's it. The next day, he'd be like, nope. I'd be like one up every practice... He is a tough fighter, tough competitor, tough dude in general. Didn't like losing and would come back stronger."

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Edited by Ujwal Jain