Cain Velasquez Injured and Out of UFC 180

Another horrible turn for the UFC as Cain Velasquez is out of his planned UFC heavyweight title defense in Mexico after suffering a knee injury. Mark Hunt will step in for an interim title fight against Fabricio Werdum.

Cain Velasquez is out of his UFC 180 title defense with Fabricio Werdum according to multiple media reports. The fight between Velasquez and Werdum was to main event the UFC’s first ever trip to Mexico and Velasquez was a huge part of the UFC’s plans to break into the market.

But the reports are that Cain suffered a knee injury and is out of the fight and will be replaced by Mark Hunt. Hunt vs. Werdum will be for the interim championship.

Here’s Kevin Iole confirming the initial reports:

Cain Velasquez injures knee, out of UFC 180. Mark Hunt to fight Werdum for interim title. Story soon on Yahoo Sports

— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) October 22, 2014

That’s a horrible turn of events for the UFC, a promotion desperately in need of a break in their direction in a year that has seen countless big fights taken down by injuries and failed drug tests.

Velasquez is also in an odd position in which he fought Junior dos Santos on November 12, 2011 and has fought dos Santos twice more and Antonio Silva twice. So in a five fight span lasting for almost three years, Velasquez has only fought two men.

We’ll have more information as it becomes available.

Update: As this story was about to be published, the UFC made it official, including this quote from Velasquez via press release:

“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.”

By Brent Brookhouse

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