Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez will return to the octagon this Sunday night to face Francis Ngannou in the main event of UFC Fight Night Phoenix.
During media day for UFC Fight Night Phoenix, The MMA fighter recalled his time at the WWE Performance Center in July, noting that he’s been entertaining the idea of transitioning into professional wrestling and wanted to see if he could do it:
“It was more like just a learning process for me, it’s obviously a different sport… a whole different way of doing it. So for me, it was just an opportunity to see…to see if I can even do it. If it translated over from what I’ve done in the past to this or is it something totally different, I found that for me…I learned a lot of the stuff just really quickly from past experiences, from wrestling…from MMA.”
Velasquez recalls the transition from MMA to wrestling and the atmosphere down in the Performance Center:
It’s like working with someone instead of working against them and trying to beat them, which I thought was super cool. Really good atmosphere with the people that are their…the coaches, in there…you’re teamed together, you’re helping each other go forward and trying to make the WWE the best thing that it can be and just that mentality is awesome. It’s different from what we do here in mixed martial arts, we have teams that we’re associated with…yes, but as far as the whole sport in general…we’re not all really working together for the same goals. It’s a little different, it’s a little more self centered. WWE may seem that way, but it’s not. It’s people working together, it’s the people in charge like Triple H helping everyone to be their best and that to me is something I haven’t experienced since I was in college or high school. Just a really positive work environment, it was awesome,"
The big question is whether the former UFC Heavyweight champion is interested in a career in professional wrestling and it didn’t take much time for Velasquez to respond with yes:
“Hell yeah (I can do it), I am (interested in doing it) just because the transition for me…it was pretty easy, not pretty easy…but it was. I’m pretty athletic for a big guy, I learned by watching somebody doing something I can do pretty well. I’ve never been a guy to be sitting in a classroom, I try to learn that way. That’s never been me, but to be in a setting like that…where you’re hands on, learning that way is the best way I learn.”
UFC Fight Night Phoenix takes place on Sunday, February 17 from the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona with Francis Ngannou and Cain Velasquez headlining.