UFC 196's Cain Velasquez plans rare third UFC title reign: 'This belt is mine'

Cain Velasquez is one of six fighters in history to become a two-time UFC champion at one weight class. When it comes to three-time titleholders, the list shrinks to just one.

UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture is the only fighter to strike gold three times, as he became UFC heavyweight champion on multiple occasions between 1995 and 2007.

When Velasquez (13-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) enters the octagon to challenge heavyweight champ Fabricio Werdum (20-5-1 MMA, 8-2 UFC) at UFC 196 on Feb. 6, he’ll be looking to repeat Couture’s feat, except do it in less than half the time.

Velasquez was granted an immediate rematch with Werdum after “Vai Cavalo” took the belt with a third-round submission at UFC 188 in June. Velasquez sat on the sidelines with injury for almost two years prior to that contest and returned for the bout in Mexico City. He did not look in proper form, because the high elevations caused his conditioning to fail early and Werdum capitalized to win the belt.

The chance for redemption is highly motivating, Velasquez said, and with more favorable circumstances going into the rematch, he’s not about to allow Werdum to beat him again.

“Just to get revenge on somebody that’s beaten me, I love it,” Velasquez said in a UFC 196 promotional video. “It’s going to be a war back-and-forth and I’m going to keep pushing forward until I get that ‘W.’ … The pain of losing hurts, but you always got to take the positive from it. There’s nothing I can say to make it better, but I can do something. I got this rematch and I can go out there and beat him.”

UFC 196 takes place Super Bowl weekend at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Velasquez has been in this situation before. He captured the UFC heavyweight strap for the first time when he beat Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 in October 2010. He then lost the belt to Junior Dos Santos in his first defense at UFC on FOX 1 in November 2011 when he blasted by a big punch early in the fight for a 64-second knockout loss.

There’s a cliché in combat sports that a champion isn’t defined by how he loses his title, but instead how he rebounds from the defeat. Velasquez bounced back in arguably the strongest way imaginable, because he steamrolled Dos Santos in back-to-back fights to make his initial loss to the Brazilian look like a distant memory.

Velasquez intends to do the same thing when he takes on Werdum for a second time at UFC 196, he said. Velasquez is undefeated in rematches throughout his career and hopes to continue that trend by avenging the only unresolved loss on his record.

“In this rematch I’m just able to show people that this belt is mine and it’s not so much about what happened in the last fight, it’s about going out there and proving it to the world,” Velasquez said. “And I’m going to do that.”

For more on UFC 196, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.