Just a couple of months ago the MMA was shocked again by Brazilian Fabricio Werdum (20-5-1). The 38-year-old beat the cardio machine that is Cain Velasquez (13-2) at his home game in front of his own people in Mexico at UFC 188.
Now Velasquez will get a chance at redemption. The UFC last night announced a rematch between the two heavyweights but have yet to announce the date and venue.
It was said that either Stipe Miocic or Andrei Arlovski or possibly JDS would be the next in line for the title. However the UFC have schedule Arlovski to face Mir, Miocic to face Rothwell and JDS is rumoured to be facing Overeem soon to. Therefore the promotion have opted to go with the rematch instead of having someone new fight for the title.
This means that Cain Velasquez will have fought seven times since 2011 but only against three different opponents: JDS x 3, Bigfoot Silva x 2 and Werdum x 2.
Alan’s Angle: The UFC have a tendency to give former champs immediate rematches lately. I do believe this is OK in certain circumstances like when Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar fought to a draw. But on other situations like Werdum and Velasquez, where Werdum won clearly, I don’t think this is the route to go down.
It keeps the division stagnant. Why not have someone else challenge for the title? Or have Cain fight others in the heavyweight division and shake things up? Use a veteran like Arlovski with his career resurgence and story to build up a title fight with Werdum.
Werdum went a couple of months and lived at an even higher altitude than what the fight was being fought at and Cain made a mistake by not going down to Mexico sooner than two weeks before the fight, he made this mistake and he should not be rewarded with an immediate chance at getting his title back. But that is just my opinion on it.