There is a chance the survivors from this field could be Velasquez and Cormier, who are training partners at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif. While the subject of training partners fighting each other has been talked about for years, and UFC president Dana White in particular has brought up matching AKA welterweights Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch, only once in modern MMA history has one camp had the clear-cut top two guys in a division, when Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua were tearing up PRIDE’s 205-pound class. And they never fought each other.
“My standpoint is it is up to the fighters,” said Mendez, who also trains Cormier. “I back both my fighters with whatever decision they make. If they both agree and the organizations want it, then it will happen and it’s nothing personal. We’ll have to set up separate camps and take care of them as best we can. Daniel has talked about it before. Whatever Daniel wants, I’ll back 100 percent. If Cain says, ‘No,’ guess what I’m going to do? I’ll be behind Cain.”
“He’s a friend,” said Cormier. “I’ve trained him for all of his recent fights. I cornered him. We face each other every day in sparring.
“It’ll be a very difficult fight for us to do. It will have to be worth it to us financially. We share the same coaches and the same management team. We’d have to address this as a group, with [manager] Bob Cook, Javier. I don’t want to be just a good fighter. I want to be the best in the world. I could be in line for a championship but if it came down to us, I’d much rather go to 205. That would eliminate a lot of things. We have a great thing going at AKA, to avoid a lot of negatives, to avoid people having to choose sides, I’d rather move to 205, maybe beat someone, and then face Jon Jones. I’d have to have that fight instead of Cain.”
