UFC Heavyweight Champion
With his victory over Nogueira, Velasquez earned a UFC Heavyweight Championship fight with then-champ Brock Lesnar. Dana White announced via SportsNation that the UFC would be bringing back UFC Primetime to promote Lesnar vs. Velasquez. Velasquez defeated Lesnar via TKO in the first round, earning Knockout of the Night honors.
Velasquez suffered a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder during his fight with Lesnar and was expected to be sidelined for at least six to eight months. Surgery on the shoulder was successful and Velasquez planned to return as early as Fall 2011.
Velasquez was expected to make his first title defense against Junior dos Santos, with a target date of November 19, 2011 at UFC 139, but the fight was later moved to November 12, 2011 to headline the first UFC on Fox 1 event.
Velasquez suffered his first loss via KO (punches) at 1 minute and 4 seconds of the first round at the hands of then title contender, Junior dos Santos. While not public information at the time, it was later revealed that Dos Santos already had a minor knee injury, and took an injection of cortisone into the knee before the fight, followed by information revealing that Velasquez had re-injured his rotator cuff approximately a week before the fight. However, Junior dos Santos had fought injured as well as it was revealed after the fight, he had a torn meniscus in his knee and would undergo knee surgery following the fight.
Read more about this topic: Cain Velasquez, Mixed Martial Arts Career
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