How did Cain Velasquez beat Brock Lesnar for the UFC heavyweight title?

Cain Velasquez said his camp for Brock Lesnar trained him to get straight back up from takedowns. His coach Bob Cook would shout for him to drop to his back mid-sparring so Daniel Cormier could pin him, and he had to escape. In the fight Lesnar took him down three times, but Velasquez landed on all fours and stood up each time, which he said kills an opponent's will. He then took Lesnar down himself and finished him with punches and elbows for a TKO in 2010.

• Velasquez fought at about 240 pounds against a 265-pound heavyweight limit, so most opponents were bigger.
• Velasquez said Cormier later admitted he would not have wanted to fight Lesnar himself.

▸In their words

“But as I'm falling, I'm falling like a cat.” Cain Velasquez · at 1:46:30 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Shawn Ryan Show (2026-10-29). Read the whole episode summary →

▸More from this episode