Heavyweight G.O.A.T. candidate Cain Velasquez returns after two years vs. arguably Next Big Thing Francis Ngannou in the main event of UFC on ESPN 1. When the UFC debuted on FOX, Velasquez lost to Junior dos Santos in 64 seconds, demonstrating once again that heavyweight is a wildly unpredictable division.

Jose Youngs for MMA Fighting reached out to a number of top professional fighters for a fight prediction. The pros leaned heavily towards Cain.

Cain
Keith Jardine: Cain via debilitating wrestling grind.
Jodie Esquibel: Cain, always Cain.
Luke Sanders: Cain via wearing Ngannou down with wrestling.
Emily Whitmire: Cain, as Ngannou throwing heavy leaves him open to takedowns.
Nik Lentz: Cain should be nervous in first round, then it’s smooth sailing.
Justin Buchholz: Smart money on Cain mothereffing Velasquez.
Scott Holtzman: Cain, but an Ngannou punch would literally kill me.
Benito Lopez: My fellow Mexican-American will get it done.

Leaning Cain
Aljamain Sterling: Pick em fight, but lean towards the wrestler.
Myles Jury: I’m a Cain fan, so I’m leaning Cain.
Cortney Casey: It’s going to be a great fight, and Cain’s from AZ like me.
James Vick: Degree of Cain ring rust unknown, he could go out in 1, but will gas Ngannou from 2 on.
Jimmie Rivera: Hinges on Ngannou conditioning.

Ngannou
Drakkar Klose: Ngannou stopped Blayes’ wrestling, can stop Cain’t too.
Vicente Luque: Ngannou via power, momentum, and speed.

Leaning Ngannou
Bryan Barberena: Ngannou is still improving.

It’s hard to say
Andrea Lee: They both want to win and can.
Paul Felder: I hope I don’t go to the hospital, and can watch this fight
Andre Fili: Heavyweight matchups are like gambling
Angela Hill: It’s a scary fight.