Former UFC Champion Cain Velasquez Will Compete In Lucha Libre At AAA Triplemania

Here’s something you probably never expected to read: former 2-time UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez, a man who once beat WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar to a bloody pulp inside the octagon, will follow up his 26-second knockout loss to Francis Ngannou back in February by joining the world of Mexican professional wrestling and competing at one of lucha libre’s biggest shows of the year due to a dispute with a dancing skeleton and a psychotic clown.

Velasquez showed up at the Triplemania press conference in Mexico City on Tuesday, and revealed that he’ll be able to participate in the event despite still being under contract to UFC.

Here’s what the Observer had to say about the press conference, featuring a brief explanation of Velasquez pulling a Ronda Rousey and calling wrestling fake to build heat for the show.

As part of an angle, the 36-year-old casually made a remark about Lucha Libre not being real which led to AAA stars like La Parka and Psycho Clown wanting to show him how real it is.

Velasquez spent one week training at the WWE Performance Center last year and is a lifelong fan, as is training partner and UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier. Velasquez is under a UFC contract, so the organization would have to agree to allow him to do the show. They have been hit-and-miss over the years about allowing their fighters to do pro wrestling, but seem to have relaxed that in recent years.

Lucha Underground and AEW favorite Pentagon Jr. (among others) stepped up to accept Velasquez’s challenge, so that looks like it could be the marquee match. If you had “Pentagon Jr. vs. Cain Velasquez at Triplemania” on your predictions for 2019, congratulations.

Here’s a look back at Velasquez’s pro wrestling acumen, from a visit to the WWE Performance Center last summer.

Triplemania takes place in Mexico City on August 3rd at Arena Ciudad.