Injury-jinxed former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is finally back in training according to his friend and training partner Daniel Cormier.
“He’s back to training, and it hurts, but nothing’s felt better for a long time,” Cormier said of Velasquez on The MMA Hour show this week. “It does suck to have to go in there and work with Cain because he’s so much better than everybody else that’s ever been around, but it’s good to have him, man.
“Just seeing him back doing what he loves to do, it’s amazing as a friend and as a fan of mixed martial arts, because if Cain gets back, you guys know what he does for the heavyweight division. He makes for some very, very interesting and fun fights.”
It’s been a year-and-a-half since Velasquez last fought in the Octagon, earning a TKO victory over Travis Browne, but looking back further he’s fought only twice in the past four years due to serious injuries and surgeries, and as such Cormier says the former champion has been much more careful about how he makes a comeback this time around.
“When you start dealing with some of the injuries that Cain has had, and I’ve seen this since wrestling — backs and necks and all those types of injuries — man, it takes time to recover,” Cormier told Ariel Helwani. “And I think, for a long time, Cain may have pushed himself when he should’ve rested, and I believe this time he’s actually taken the time to try to let himself heal, and I feel like this will be a chance for him to make a long, sustained run, much longer than he really has over the course of his career.”
