5. Jon Jones vs. Cain Velasquez
These two former UFC champions have roots at the same wrestling program at Iowa Central Community College, a two-year institution where Velasquez won a national title in 2002 and Jones did the same in 2006. Both parlayed those skills into successful MMA careers. Velasquez won his first nine fights as a professional and captured the heavyweight crown with a first-round technical knockout of Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 in October 2010. Jones, meanwhile, became the youngest UFC champion in history when he routed Maurico Rua and laid claim to the light heavyweight title as a 23-year-old a little less than five months later. The two men have fallen off the MMA grid for very different reasons: Jones has failed to stay on the straight and narrow outside the cage, while Velasquez has seen his career curtailed by a series of injuries. All things considered, a matchup between them seems unlikely but no less intriguing.
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