Cain Velasquez will go down as one of the greatest heavyweight UFC fighters of all-time. His imposing figure is not only UFC marketing gold, but he can be cast as a tough guy in any number of action movies. The current top contender is featured as a fearsome street brawler in Kickboxer: Vengeance, which has led to Cain officially catching the acting bug in-between punching faces for cash and glory.
When did you first start getting interested in acting?
Okay, I’m gonna be honest right now, in college I took acting courses, not knowing that I wanted to do the acting, just thought it would be fun. Now, at the end of the day, it’s MMA, and I don’t know when else I could do something like this where, you know, I could be a part of something that I grew up watching. You know, kickboxing, the original Kickboxer, just a huge fan of the series and everything that Jean-Claude Van Damme has done in the ’90s. So for me, just to be a part of it, it’s a great opportunity. Just being a fan growing up, it just made it that much more special.
Did growing up on these classic action movies influence you to go into martial arts?
Yeah, you know, at that time I wanted to do that. There was nothing like MMA out there at the time. But when you’re watching these movies, I definitely wanted to be a part of it or something like that. It influenced that decision a lot. Definitely.
What did it feel like to get beat up by Jean-Claude Van Damme?
It was crazy. Jean-Claude is like, “Hey, what do you wanna do? How should the fight go? You wanna kind of go at it back-and-forth and kind of end in a draw?” I was like, “No, no, Jean-Claude Van Damme, you better kick my ass!”
You weren’t in the same scenes as Werdum, but was it weird to share a movie with him after your fight? Did that lead to any hesitation in taking the role?
No, I just thought it would be fun to be a part of it, to be a part of the movie, so when the opportunity came up, I just went over there and did it.
You’ve been injured for long periods of time over the last few years. Did that play a factor in going out for these roles?
No, no, the whole movie we shot after the Werdum fight. About three or four weeks, after that fight. Something to do between fights.
These action scenes are well done and in your case, they fit you well. Was anything improvised? Like when you’re throwing people around?
As far as me throwing anybody, that was me throwing some people, definitely. I threw a guy on a table and the table just kind of collapsed, and the prop table shattered and then we went through a prop wall. So it was tough and, yeah, the props weren’t 100% real, but they are professionals.
Did you find any similarities between choreographing these scenes and preparing for an actual fight?
No, it was totally different. As far as the choreography for this, it’s pretty quick, you gotta get on set where you learn this stuff in a matter of minutes. What are we doing or what the other character is doing back at us. So we learn it pretty fast and do it over and over again so we can get a good feel for it, and then we go right and shoot it. I guess the main thing you need to do as far as fighting for a movie, it’s a memory, you know what I mean? You know your castmate, what he’s doing and how to react when they throw a combination, you know?
So you’ve been in a childhood favorite movie, what’s next? Any movie property you’re angling for?
I’ll take whatever comes my way, you know? If a director wants me in a movie, I’m happy to come and I’ll try, I’ll try out for different roles. Yeah, I definitely want to do more in the future.
Would you say that you’ve caught the acting bug?
Yeah, I guess I’ll say that. You know what, I like it. It’s close to doing something I love as far as fighting and training, but it was pretend. It’s just what I do for a living, but fake. So I love that I was doing it and it was all pretending and I wasn’t getting hit in the face. That’s a plus.
You destroyed Travis Browne at UFC 200 and you’re healthy. What’s next?
Well, right now I’m just waiting to see what happens with the other fights in September. Stipe fights versus Overeem and with Werdum fighting against Browne again. Right now, I think it’s a thing of “wait and see.” I’m waiting to see what happens with those fights.
Are you not interested in hopping back into the cage to keep active?
No. I think, between those four guys fighting, I want the winner of Stipe and Overeem, and if they don’t give me that, give me the rematch with Werdum. Those are the fights I want. I want the winners of those fights.
So right now we don’t know if the second fight between Anthony Johnson vs. your best friend, Daniel Cormier, is happening. How is Cormier doing?
Dan’s going good. I feel like Anthony Johnson will no longer be the number one contender, but we’ll see what happens with the return of Jon Jones. Anthony Johnson versus Daniel Cormier, I mean, Johnson’s a hard fight. He’s so fast, he hits so hard in the beginning, you have to be on your game with him all the time. So I’m sure if that fight happens, DC will be ready for that.
How do you feel about Brock Lesnar’s failed drug test?
As far as his failed drug test, you know, now that people are getting caught, it’s a good thing. Definitely. In the past, who knows if he was on anything when he fought me, you know? I wouldn’t be surprised if he was. I just feel like we all need to be on the same playing field, and that’s what will show who the true toughest guys are. When they do it naturally. I feel like that’s the way this sport should be.
Kickboxer: Vengeance will be released in theaters, VOD, and Digital HD on September 2nd.
