Editor's note: The above video is from Sept. 22, 2015.
UFC 200 has shaped up to be one of the biggest events in the company’s history, and it will feature two NorCal fighters on its landmark card.
Former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez will take on top contender Travis Browne. And in the main event, his American Kickboxing Academy teammate, Daniel Cormier, will defend the UFC light heavyweight championship against Jon Jones on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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Both fighters realize the significance of the moment.
“I was barely starting when UFC 100 was coming out,” Velasquez, 33, told CSNBayArea.com last week at AKA gym in San Jose. “That was one of the cards I was hoping to be on. I didn’t make it. I thought that was a good card, but I think this one will be better. I’m happy to be a part of this one.”
“UFC 100, 2009, July, I was sitting at my friend’s house in Stillwater, Oklahoma with all my buddies and I go, ‘I think I’m going to try and fight. I think I’m going to do this,’” Cormier, 37, reminisces. “100 UFC pay-per-views later, I’m the main event. That in a nutshell is crazy. This has been better than I ever could have imagined it being.”
Although the card allows both fighters to reflect on their lives and careers, there’s business to be taken care of in Sin City. Cormier is looking to avenge the only loss of his career against his heated rival, Jones. Their feud, which has included a press conference brawl and numerous taunts on social media, is one of the fiercest in MMA.
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Jones (22-1) took the first bout via unanimous decision between the two fighters in January of 2015, to which Cormier makes no excuses.
“On that day he was better. He was stronger, he was better prepared. He had a lot of things he could rely on that I didn’t. A lot of championship-level experience,” Cormier (17-1) explains. “I was fighting on emotion. Everything was tense. I was trying to knock him out, whereas for him it was just another fight.”
Cormier says he’s learned from his mistakes, but also seems to have gained confidence from Jones’s last outing, a lackluster unanimous decision victory against Ovince Saint Preux in which Cormier provided color commentary during the UFC broadcast.
“I saw a different guy,” says Cormier of the Jones-OSP fight in April. “I saw a guy that is slower, a guy whose reactions are a little more off.”
Meanwhile for Velasquez (13-2), UFC 200 is a chance to reintroduce himself to the heavyweight division. Velasquez has fought just twice in the last three years. Saturday is the third time in Velasquez’s UFC career that he’ll fight after a year-long layoff. The oft-injured Velasquez, however, says he’s ready to go.
“The health is good. I’ve changed up some things obviously to make the fight and keep my body a little more maintained,” Velasquez declares.” I feel like it’s helped. Body feels good again, so I’m happy with that.”
It’s been over a year since his last fight, a submission loss to Fabricio Werdum in which he lost the UFC heavyweight championship, but Velasquez is still UFC’s No. 2 ranked heavyweight. A win over 7th-ranked Browne (18-3-1) should put him back in title contention.
“I haven’t lost a step. I still feel strong, I still feel fast. I feel like I’m the best heavyweight in the UFC.”
Cormier also goes into his fight with abundance of confidence.
“You're going to hear, 'And still UFC light heavyweight champion.' I have no doubt in my mind that I'm beating this guy,” Cormier says. “I have done everything correct, I have done everything right; this is the moment I have been waiting for. It's all been building. I had to lose in January (2015) to get here today. I'm okay with that. I'll get my hand raised and I'll become the greatest fighter of all-time."
A bold prediction for what will surely be a historic night.