Another one bites the dust.
Fabricio Werdum was set to fight Cain Velasquez at UFC 196 as the main event headliner. The bout – set to take place on February 6th in Las Vegas – took a huge hit when Dana White tweeted that Velasquez would have to pull out of the bout due to injury. He Also announced that contender Stipe Miocic would be taking his place. While not exactly the fight we all wanted to see, Stipe Miocic has been receiving major buzz after his first round K.O. of quickly rising Andre Arlovski. Cain has been battling injuries for the last couple of years and this leads to the question of whether or not he needs to change things up. But out with the old – Stipe has been mentioned in the same vein as another contender, Alistair Overeem, as they both were coming off of impressive victories and were hypothetically battling it out as to who was next to get the title shot. Now it seems as if there’s no reason to chose. It’s been suggested around the MMA community that Stipe and Overeem should face off to see who really deserves the shot, so it makes total sense to me that in absence of both fighters set for the original bout that these two have now found themselves in a position to do it for the big dance. That’s just me talking but you’re going to have to holla at your boy Lorenzo Fertitta if you want to make it happen. https://youtu.be/DYcbAFZxt7Y This What Fabricio Werdum had to say about the situation.
“I was already injured,” Werdum told Brazilian journalists on Monday. “I have a foot injury, and haven’t been able to throw kicks in training for two weeks. I would still fight Cain because I was injured the last time, but I also hurt my back last Friday. I went to the doctor, tried to continue training, but couldn’t spar as I should spar.
“I decided not to fight because I’m not 100 percent,” he continued. “If Cain was the opponent, I would go on. It’s not his fault, it’s nobody’s fault. Injuries happen. You can’t avoid them. I have no option. I made this decision because I’m not feeling 100 percent.”
Fabricio Werdum says that he will be ready to fight in about “two” or “three” months and that he’s open to fighting Velasquez or Miocic.
“It took me a long time to get here and win this belt, be the champion, to throw everything away because I’m not 100 percent,” Werdum said. “I have to think about everything now, I can’t think and act like I did when I was 20. It’s not like that anymore. Everything changed. I’m 38 now, and I feel I’m at the best moment of my career, and I can’t risk my career because of pride.”
What do you think about the trend of fighters pulling out of big fights? Do they need to change up training or is it something else? Is Miocic and Overeem actually a better fight?
