• UFC 146

I'll never suffer repeat of Dos Santos loss - Velasquez

ESPN staff
March 29, 2012
Cain Velasquez never lived with Junior Dos Santos © Getty Images
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Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is in focused mood ahead of his UFC 146 encounter with Frank Mir, and he admits his recent loss to Junior Dos Santos will be the driving force that fires the rest of his career.

Velasquez meets Mir in a No. 1 contender bout at UFC 146, with the winner set to take on the current title holder, which will either be Dos Santos or Alistair Overeem.

For the former champ, the May 26 event will be his first since losing the belt to Dos Santos. Back then, in one of the biggest fights in UFC history, Velasquez was knocked out in just 64 seconds.

Defeat was his first as a mixed martial artist, and Velasquez makes little effort to hide his disappointment. Unfortunately for Mir, Velasquez promises never to let it happen to him again.

"Ultimately, I let myself down," Velasquez said to Yahoo Sports. "I don't ever want that to happen. I want to go out there and win.

"Stuff happens. I get that, but I definitely wasn't happy with my performance. When it comes down to it, I don't want to be in that position again.

"For it to go the way it did, that definitely sucked. I'm a realist. I knew I wasn't going to go through my career undefeated. That's how this sport is. People lose. Even the best guys lose.

"I knew as soon as it was over, I had to pick myself back up and keep going forward. I do have some extra motivation now, for sure, but I wish that for that night things had gone differently and that the fans had gotten the fight they came to see."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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