Cain Velasquez out, Stipe Miocic meets Fabricio Werdum for heavyweight title

Cain Velasquez

Injury has dealt Cain Velasquez another blow, as he’s been forced to pull out of UFC 196.

UFC officials today announced that back injury has forced the former heavyweight champ to pull out of a planned Feb. 6 meeting with current champ Fabricio Werdum, and Stipe Miocic has been tapped as a short-notice replacement.

A timetable for Velasquez’s return was not immediately established.

The renamed “UFC 196: Werdum vs. Miocic” takes place at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. The evening’s main card airs on pay-per-view.

More on this in just a moment.

With the change to the card, UFC 196 now includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

• Fabricio Werdum vs. Stipe Miocic – for heavyweight championship
• Johny Hendricks vs. Stephen Thompson
• Roy Nelson vs. Jared Rosholt
• Rafael Cavalcante vs. Ovince Saint Preux
• Joseph Benavidez vs. Zach Makovsky

PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET)

• Josh Burkman vs. K.J. Noons
• Damian Grabowski vs. Derrick Lewis
• Mike Pyle vs. Sean Spencer
• Misha Cirkunov vs. Alex Nicholson

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6 p.m. ET)

• Mickey Gall vs. Mike Jackson
• Artem Lobov vs. Alex White
• Ray Borg vs. Justin Scoggins
• Noad Lahat vs. Diego Rivas

For more on UFC 196, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.