DALLAS — Some fighters prefer to stay as busy as their schedule allows, rotating from one fight camp to the next. UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, though, is not among them.
“I personally like to fight maybe twice a year, at the most,” Velasquez said on Friday.
“I just think that’s perfect enough for me. I’m active enough, and still I get the rigorous training. Then I can have a little break, and then swing back into it. I feel like we don’t really get injured too much in the fight — well, sometimes we do — but I like to have that time of just relaxing and then slowly getting back into training, and not having to rush back into things right away.”
When pressed on whether the UFC prefers that its heavyweight champion not set limits on his own availability, Velasquez was frank in his response.
“Well that’s what I want and that’s what I like,” he said. “So if I had my way I would. Last year I fought three times, so that’s a little busy for me. But if it comes down to it, I’ll do it.”
For now, Velasquez simply needs to get No. 1 out of the way before he can look towards his second appearance of 2014.
The 31-year-old is currently recovering from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. It’s the second shoulder surgery of Velasquez’s career, as the heavyweight underwent a similar procedure after tearing the rotator cuff and labrum in his right shoulder during his title-winning performance over Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 in 2010.
“I’m been here before with the other shoulder surgery that I had three years ago,” Velasquez said. “I know it’s kind of hard. (It’s) the same kind of thing, got to slowly get back into it. Felt little tweaks here and there, but ultimately I was okay. So it’ll be fine.
“I’m towards the end of my rehab right now. I’m also starting to try to get that strength back. … Right now I still can’t train yet, but hopefully pretty soon the doctors will let me start doing some stuff.”
Once he can get back into the swing of things, Velasquez is eyeing a return to the cage in November, as well as a coaching gig on an upcoming Mexican expansion of The Ultimate Fighter.
With a UFC record-tying two consecutive title defenses already under his belt, Velasquez will be looking to make history the next time he fights. Though in order to seal his name into the record books, Velasquez will likely need to defeat the winner of an April 19 contest between Travis Browne and Fabricio Werdum at UFC on FOX 11.
“Both guys are tough,” Velasquez said of his two potential opponents. “I think Travis Browne might be a little bit better on his feet, with his overall length and power and just the way he moves, he’s pretty quick. I think Werdum on the ground, he’s really good, but Travis Browne hasn’t been on the ground yet.
“So I don’t know, I’m kind of favoring Browne a little bit more, but we’ll see what happens.”