You can take all those "sea-level Cain Velasquez" jokes and shove them in a sack.
That seems to be what Velasquez wants to have happen, at least if some of his recent comments and a few glugs of humorous speculation are any indication.
Speaking Tuesday on The MMA Hour (via MMA Fighting) with broadcaster Ariel Helwani, Velasquez expressed plenty of regret over his June 2015 title loss to Fabricio Werdum but added that he was hoping to fight Werdum again—particularly in Mexico City.
Arguably, it was the latter of the two topics that drew more of the ex-champ's attention. As hardcore fans know, Velasquez's coach noted Mexico City's high altitude—and the relatively short time he spent there before UFC 188—as a prime reason he lost the belt to Werdum during an interview with Talking Brawls (h/t theScore, FoxSports.com).
Velasquez is so eager to right that wrong that he said he's willing to conduct his entire training camp in or near Mexico City if he gets another chance to compete there.
"If an opportunity comes up, yeah, I would [fight in Mexico City again]," Velasquez told Helwani. "I would go back there and fight there and be prepared and do my whole training camp out there and, yeah, get a win in front of the fans over there, definitely."
That would mean two months or more away from home base, but Velasquez said such a move would be worth the peace of mind.
"I would feel much better, just to have me, my team and just doing the whole training camp out there," Velasquez said. "I just think it's that big of a difference. To be going there early, two weeks, it just wasn't enough, you know? It needs to be the whole training camp out there. It needs to be eight weeks or nine weeks out there, in training, yes."
Even more so than a rematch with Werdum, Velasquez said he wanted to fight the winner between heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic and challenger Alistair Overeem, who face off for the belt on Saturday at UFC 203.
"I feel like Stipe is more similar to my style," Velasquez said. "He does everything well, he's conditioned, he's a smaller heavyweight. I feel like both those guys pose threats in their own right, but with my style of fighting, I can beat both those guys.
"People know that if I'm 100 percent going into the fight, that there's no one out there that can touch me."
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