Cain Velasquez: Jon Jones beats Tom Aspinall because of Aspinall's predictable patterns

Cain Velasquez knows what it takes to be the greatest heavyweight on the planet.

The former two-time UFC champion dominated and performed so masterfully during the height of his career that he was being spoken of as arguably the division's all-time greatest talent. At the time, Jon Jones was emerging and paving his way into the history books at light heavyweight, making fans ponder how "Bones" would fare in a champion vs. champion clash for the label of "baddest man on the planet."

That was back in 2011. Jones ultimately never made the jump up in weight until 2023, but he now holds the UFC heavyweight title, with interim champion Tom Aspinall patiently waiting in the wings. England's Aspinall has drawn comparisons to Velasquez in some ways due to his strong overall skill set.

Velasquez spoke about those comparisons Tuesday on "The Ariel Helwani Show."

"What he's been doing, great, obviously," Velasquez said of Aspinall. "Champion of the world, amazing. He's beaten some tough guys to get there. I see what you're saying [about similarities to me], as far as the body type, the movement, the speed, the striking, the strength that he has. So it's great, man. It's just great stuff.

"For me, it's the matchups. The matchups are what make everything interesting."

Jones vs. Aspinall is possibly the closest alternative to Jones and Velasquez's prime vs. prime fantasy pairing at heavyweight. Despite hitting his career twilight at age 37, Jones remains as dominant as ever, having recently pitched a shutout against former two-time champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November. Jones finished Miocic with a devastating spinning back kick to the body in Round 3.

There's no official date for a fight between Jones and Aspinall in 2025, but if UFC CEO Dana White is to be believed, the matchup will "100%" happen.

While Velasquez praises Aspinall's impressive work in the UFC thus far, he believes Jones is still too large of a hill for the Brit to climb.

"I don't think he [beats Jones]," Velasquez said of Aspinall. "Me just watching him, I kind of see his pattern a little bit, and his striking — the way he comes in and strikes. I think Jon sees it too. I think with that, just because, again, Jon, he studies, man. He does his homework. He's a master at this. He analyzes things. He studies you over and over again. I think just for that reason, he's going to know what to do. So I don't think [Aspinall] beats Jon.

"Everybody has a pattern, right? There's a fight pattern," Velasquez continued. "Some people disguise it better than others. The simple fact is the way Tom comes in and fights, he does have a pattern that's somewhat easier to find. He comes in and strikes. And I think you know what we're talking about — a lot of things come with that. It's disguising your pattern. It's throwing fakes here and there before. But when he comes in to attack, he comes in and attacks. It's 100% full go. He comes in, glides in, lunges in and does his attack. Again, not that it's not effective — it is. He's done great things with it. But I think with the type of guy that Jon Jones is, I think he studies him, and he beats him because of that."

Velasquez, 42, retired as a competitor in 2019 after a tough 26-second knockout loss to Francis Ngannou, however he's remained as much of a fixture in the MMA community as much as he can, primarily continuing to work with fighters at his longtime gym in San Jose, American Kickboxing Academy (AKA).

Velasquez's next order of business in MMA is the newly starting Global Fight League (GFL), which launches this coming April. The promotion recently announced that Velasquez will serve as a team manager alongside his longtime AKA head coach, Javier Mendez.

Velasquez revealed Tuesday that the duo will helm Dubai's GFL team in 2025.

"The great thing about the team aspect of things is when guys match up over and over again when they have a regular season," Velasquez said.

"[That's] when they learn from each other. The next fight, it's something different. Maybe the other guy [who lost at first] gets the win. So you kind of do this where they're [fighting] over and over again, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Once guys fight against each other, then you're going to see that evolution because they don't just see each other one time a year or one time every other year.

"You're going to see guys really evolve and learn from that particular fight. That's what always interested me when we go back to, like, [amateur] wrestling, or we go back to other team sports — that, where teams see each other over and over again, there's a sense of evolution," Velasquez continued.

"It's who can make the adjustments, get better, and then show it when the time comes. So the team aspect, but also the competition where guys get to compete with each other over and over again."

Before Velasquez can entirely focus on his GFL duties, he must handle some personal matters.

The former UFC champ was involved in a incident in 2022, during which he allegedly engaged in a high-speed chase with Harry Goularte, who is accused of molesting a 4-year-old child on “multiple occasions” who has since been identified as Velasquez's son. Velasquez allegedly fired a handgun into a car carrying Goularte during the chase, resulting in non-life threatening injuries to Goularte’s stepfather Paul Bender.

As a result, Velasquez faces charges of attempted murder (one count), shooting at a motor vehicle or aircraft (one count), assault with a firearm (three counts), assault with a deadly weapon (three counts), willfully discharging a firearm from a vehicle (one count) and carrying a loaded firearm with intent to commit a felony (one count).

Velasquez has pleaded no contest to all charges as his case progresses. The former UFC heavyweight champion will attend a sentencing on Jan. 24, coincidentally the same day as GFL's 2025 draft. If found guilty, Velasquez could face up to 20 years in prison. He's been out of jail on bail since November 2022.

Regardless of the situation, Velasquez is still in positive spirits.

"We'll kind of see what happens," Velasquez said. "I'm doing the best that I can with everything that I've been doing as far as work. We'll just kind of see how that date works out.

"I am blessed just to be here. I'm loving life, I'm loving growth, I'm loving everyone around me. Growing. I love that I still get to do what I get to do. So just that I'm here, I'm always grateful for it all."