UFC champ Velasquez planned on fighting Werdum injured
By now you probably know that UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez (14-1) has pulled out of his UFC 180 title defense against Fabricio Werdum (18-5) next month. A report from MMA Fighting says that Velasquez had initially planned to fight Werdum with an injured knee Nov. 15, however, before sustaining a second injury in the same last week.
"According to Javier Mendez, Velasquez's coach at the American Kickboxing Academy, Velasquez has been dealing with a torn meniscus for quite some time, however, he suffered the sprained MCL during a training session (sprawl drills) on Oct. 16 or 17 and that ended his dream of headlining a show in Mexico City (for now, of course)," the report reads.
According to the story, Velasquez is now set to undergo surgery this Thursday in San Jose to repair the meniscus in his right knee. The plan is to use rest and physical rehabilitation to repair the partially torn MCL.
The frantically-hard training Velasquez is plagued by injuries that have kept him out of action for years at a time. He's also often reportedly fought injured in a number of bouts.
The champ was replaced at UFC 180 by Mark Hunt (10-8-1), and the New Zealander will now take on Werdum for a newly-created interim heavyweight title.
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