In the span of two days, UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum and his scheduled opponent Cain Velasquez both pulled out of their title fight, which was penciled in as the main event of UFC 196 in Las Vegas next weekend.
Velasquez, a former two-time UFC heavyweight champion, was scratched from the title fight on Monday, citing a serious back injury.
For fans of the American Kickboxing Academy leader, this was crushing news. But, as they say, one man’s loss is another man’s gain.
Number-two ranked contender Stipe Miocic was quick to fill the former champ’s shoes, agreeing to fight Werdum on just 13 days notice.
Just one day later though, UFC champ Werdum told a group of Brazilian media that he is also pulling out from the championship fight.
“I was already injured,” Werdum explained. “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 per cent.”
So, at the time of this writing, UFC 196 has no main event. The top scheduled fight is a welterweight bout, pitting Texas-based power wrestler Johny Hendricks against Stephen Thompson.
Miocic has agreed to fight on the card, but presently we have more questions than answers surrounding the Croatian-American fighter’s immediate future.
Will he still fight at UFC 196? If so, against who?
Will it still be the main event?
Will it be for an interim title?
Luckily for the Ohio-based firefighter, there a few heavyweights that have already offered their services for next weekend.
Josh Barnett is one of the prime candidates. The 38-year-old veteran became the youngest-ever UFC heavyweight champion in 2002 but has not competed in a title fight for the Nevada-based promotion since.
“If they page me 911, if they send me the number, I will absolutely take the fight (against Miocic),” Barnett told MMA Fighting. “If they want a heavyweight championship main event, I’m your man. I’ll go in. I’ll take care of business and I’ll give them what they want. I’ll give them what they need, which is a healthy, motivated championship fighter. That’s what they’ll get.”
The seasoned veteran is scheduled to face seventh-ranked contender Ben Rothwell on Sunday. But both heavyweight challengers have made it clear that they’re willing to scrap that main card fight for a championship opportunity.
And at this stage, Barnett and Rothwell seem like the two best choices to face Miocic in the main event slot next weekend.
All the other top heavyweights are either booked to fight, coming off losses or, in the case of Dutch kickboxing champ Alistair Overeem, currently a free agent, without a signed UFC deal.
Either way, the UFC needs to make a decision sooner rather than later.
UFC matchmakers Joe Silva and Sean Shelby are the best in the business, and they really need to pull a rabbit out of their hat – or risk pulling the plug on the pay-per-view event altogether.
In the 22-year history of the UFC, the company has only scrapped one event, a 2012 pay-per-view that fell apart when ageing power puncher Dan Henderson was forced out of a light heavyweight title fight against Jon Jones.
UFC decision makers offered the top pound-for-pound fighter a short-notice replacement fight against Chael Sonnen, a natural middleweight who had never won a UFC fight in the weight class. Jones declined, and all the UFC’s plans went up in flames. They were forced to cancel the event and issue refunds to all ticket buyers.
Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself.
Squidward
Roar Rookie
Sportsbet currently
Alex Wood
Roar Guru
I'll take those odds, where did you see this?
Alex Wood
Roar Guru
Heavy weight training under any kind of fatigue is ill advised, and worse still when an athlete is severely depleted from heavy cardio. The reason being that this means not only is the athlete fatigued and therefore not fit for all-out CNS exertion but they are likely fatigued in a way which will change the mechanics of their lifting. I.e: if an athlete has been running all afternoon, then tried to perform a squat at or near say... their 3-rep maximum... they will be fatigued in their calves and quadriceps, and to a lesser extent their other leg and posterior chain muscles. This means that the quadriceps will be less able to contribute to the lift, and the other muscle groups will have to compensate which will often lead to the squat looking more like a "good morning" and an exponential increase in the force applied to the lower back. More often than not you will get away with this, but the one time the athlete doesn't brace themselves corrects (which again, is more likely through mental fatigue) or when the bar position is just so that the leverage over the back is beyond the core strength of the fatigued athlete then BANG - injured and in such a way that you're not coming back for a good 6 months. The example I have given is a gross over simplification to illustrate a point, which is that if you are fatigued the contribution of different muscles/muscle groups in a maximum effort lift (which is plenty dangerous even when performed correctly) will be limited, which will change the mechanics of your lift and can lead to serious injury. Don't train like Cain kids. If you wanted to achieve the same neuromuscular response - olympic lifting, sensible calisthenics and for the more capable gymnastic training would be far better than what I have seen in Cain's videos.
Squidward
Roar Rookie
I might put money on that $22 bet of Jon Jones being HW champ by the end of this year
AZ_RBB
Guest
My training partner went through the exact same thing last year. He had spent years playing a lot of sport. Then to get some strength he started lifting heavy as well. But he continued playing all the sport and doing the cardio he used to. Often he would play sport from 6 to 7 then come lift heavy with me at 8. He took pride in the fact that he was lifting and doing so much cardio & sport. As a result of this he spent over half of 2015 sitting out with serious back injuries. He couldn't understand why after being injury free his whole life, he was suddenly getting injured so much. I told him it was over exertion. Not sure if he ever believed me. But your comment confirms exactly what my theory was. These "loading" strategies used by many coaches nowadays where they rest players after a certain point is widely criticised mostly by more old school commentators who see it as being weak. But it is absolutely real. At a certain point you become much more susceptible to injuries. Training smart is far more successful than training hard.
pjm
Roar Rookie
The heavyweight division is going through a transitition. Without the drugs they're used to taking all the top HWs are really LHWs.
Alex Wood
Roar Guru
I'm a Cain fan, and also a life-long weightlifter who has played a lot of contact sport. To be honest and with all respect for the former champion I'm not at all surprised about his back injury. There are videos of some of his training methods and the technique encouraged by the weightlifting coaches is horrendous... In particular I can remember on of him doing leg-extensions which made me fear for his knees. I understand what they are trying to do, in a very old fashioned way, and hone his fast-twitch muscle fibre with explosive movements but there are ways.... safe ways... of doing that. Add to that that he is a cardio king, and you can assume he's fatigued and sore before he starts and those two things are a recipe for disaster. Wishing him a speedy recover. Would love to see the Baby Faced War-Machine fight for a title again, if only for nostalgia.
Viv
Roar Pro
UFC 176 was cancelled as well cause Aldo pulled out. Aldo versus Mendes was moved to 179 --other fights were moved to various cards
Justin Faux
Expert
I'm sure it will be a financial hit for the company, who have invested a significant chunk of change into promoting the match but it's better than upsetting the core audience of fight buying fans by presenting them a sub-par product at a steep price.
Viv
Roar Pro
Was the only move for UFC, probably wouldn't of hit 100k buys. Losing out on millions from the lost money in promotion and ppv buys. Probably would've done between 300 and 350k
Justin Faux
Expert
That news only broke this afternoon, a few hours after this article went up on the website. I think that's a great move. UFC 196 with Johny Hendricks vs. Stephen Thompson is not a card worthy of the pay-per-view ticket, but it's a really solid television main event.
Kingcowboy
Guest
The fight has been taken off Pay Per View in the states and moved to Fox Sports One.