Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez says long-time teammate Daniel Cormier did not want to fight Brock Lesnar.

Cormier was linked to a fight against Lesnar in 2018, but the fight never materialized.

According to Velasquez, this was never a fight that Cormier, his long-time sparring partner at American Kickboxing Academy, wanted.

Cain Velasquez Says Daniel Cormier Didn’t Want to Fight Brock Lesnar

Speaking to Shawn Ryan, Velasquez explained why Cormier wasn’t interested in a fight against Lesnar.

“He’s a freak of an athlete. My coaches and I knew that we had the recipe, but I could see everyone else. Even Daniel tells me later, he’s like, ‘Man, when you fought him, I didn’t tell you, but I was just like, I don’t want to be fighting that guy.’ He’s a freak athlete, played in the NFL, national champion wrestler, big dude. Standing in front of him, this is a massive dude right here. Even though he doesn’t like the exchange, he has power. So you get hit with that, it’s not going to be good. You still got to be cautious everywhere,” Velasquez said.

Daniel Cormier Has Different Recollection

While Velasquez says that Cormier didn’t want to fight Lesnar, Cormier did an interview before where he said that the only reason this fight didn’t happen was that Lesnar went back to WWE and the opportunity to fight him in the UFC sailed away, not because he was afraid of him.

Unfortunately, this fight never happened, as Lesnar and Cormier even once confronted each other inside the Octagon after Cormier had knocked out Stipe Miocic to win the UFC heavyweight title. At the time, it was the fight the UFC brass wanted to book, as it would have been one of the biggest heavyweight fights in MMA history.

We never got to see it, however, though Cormier can always feel good knowing that at least his good friend Velasquez got to fight Lesnar, whom he knocked out to claim the heavyweight title 16 years ago, even though he himself never got the chance to follow in Velasquez’s footsteps and do the same.