The UFC announced this afternoon that current Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez suffered an injury to his right knee while training for his bout against #1 contender Fabricio Verdum.
“I’m so unbelievably disappointed that this happened,” Velasquez said. “To say I was looking forward to fighting in Mexico for the first time is an understatement. I wanted to fight on that card so bad. Looks like it wasn’t meant to be and it’s not going to happen. I’m going to get my [right] knee fixed and get back to training as soon as I can. I’m sorry to the fans in Mexico who were expecting this fight, and I hope to be able to come down and still be a part of this historic event.”
UFC matchmakers Joe Silva and Sean Shelby were able to find a game replacement for the November 15th event: #4 ranked powerhouse Mark “The Super Samoan” Hunt (pictured above, breaking Stefan Struve).
While Hunt is fresh from his walk-off 2nd round knockout of “Big Country” Roy Nelson on September 20th, what will this mean for Verdum?
“I’m ready for whatever comes. I have been training in Mexico for nearly two months and accept the challenge that is presented to me. I’ll continue to prepare and will arrive ready to fight on behalf of all my Latin American fans,” said Werdum.
That said, Verdum has been training hard for an opponent with a wildly different fighting style than Hunt. Where Cain can wear you out with combinations, takedowns, ground-and-pound, and cardio for hours; Mark Hunt can end your night with one punch.
What makes this development all the more interesting is the fact that despite the injury to the current champ, this fight will be for the Interim title. The winner will hold the title until Velasquez is ready to fight again. While I agree with this decision, I’m left to wonder why the same decision was not made for UFC 181?
For those unaware, UFC 181 was supposed to feature a Middleweight Title match between current champ “The All-American” Chris Weidaman and “The Phenom” Vitor Belfort. However, much like Velasquez, Weidman is prone to injury and as a result was forced to postpone his fight with Belfort because of a broken hand. This begs the question: Why not have an Interim Champion in this instance? Give the able-bodied fighters a shot at moving up (or down!) the ranks until the reigning champ makes a full recovery?
The Weidman/Belfort match has now been pushed to February, two months later than initially scheduled and FIVE months after the reported injury. It does not make a lot of sense to keep this stacked Middleweight division waiting in the wings.
Let us know what YOU think in the comments!
Comments are closed.