The Las Vegas Athletic Commission has ruled that Cain Velasquez is not fight to compete in his rematch against Fabricio Werdum at UFC 207 next Friday night, leading to the bout being cancelled.
Velasquez had revealed to MMAfighting’s Ariel Helwani yesterday that due to earlier comments he’d made about having experienced back pain that would require surgery after his fight, the commission were going to have him undergo a medical examination today to establish whether he was fit or not.
The former heavyweight champion had insisted that he was still fit to compete, despite having revealed that he couldn’t stand for more than 10 minutes without experiencing pain, but the commission have decided to rule him out on health and safety grounds.
“Based on medical records, interviews and the best judgment of Chairman Anthony Marnell, attorney general J. Brin Gibson, the executive director’s office and our physicians, in an effort to protect the health and safety of the athletes, it’s been determined Cain Velasquez is unfit to fight,” the NSAC said in a statement.
“The financial incentive for fighters to compete is strongly compelling, and it is the responsibility and obligation of this commission to intervene when excessive risks are evident. It’s obvious Mr. Velasquez is physically compromised, and competing would place him in significant physical risk.”
This is just the latest and a troublingly long list of injury setbacks for Velasquez, who is due to have surgery to shave down bone spurs in his spine on January 4th.
As things stand, UFC 207 on December 30th will now proceed with just 10 fights, including the main event woman’s bantamweight title fight featuring Amanda Nunes Vs Ronda Rousey, plus men’s 135lb champion Dominick Cruz competing against Cody Garbrandt.
