There’s an old adage in the fight game which says that iron sharpens iron. That is, improvement in the gym can only come from testing yourself against the very best.
This has been the strategy employed by AKA teammates and close friends Daniel Cormier and Cain Velasquez and it has yielded them numerous titles across the UFC and Strikeforce spectrum, but with ‘DC’ expected to retire on the occasion of his 40th birthday in late March and his rivalry with Jon Jones somewhat unresolved, it is beginning to look like Cain Velasquez might keep that particular flame lit.
Despite AKA coach Javier Mendez suggesting that Cormier may in fact continue past his 40th birthday if the right opportunities present themselves, Velasquez told MMAFighting that he would be open to facing Jones at heavyweight.
“I hope so. I’ll try to make that happen,” Velasquez said when asked if a fight with Jon Jones down the road would be appealing to him.
Jones, though, says that he has no intention of moving to the heavyweight division anytime soon, so any talk of a Jones vs. Velasquez clash is very much a don’t-hold-your-breath affair.
First things first though, Cain Velasquez is set to return to the cage for the first time since the summer of 2016 when he faces Francis Ngannou at UFC on ESPN 1 on February 17th in Phoenix, Arizona.
