UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez may be on the shelf longer than originally expected after surgeons found additional damage in his knee during a recent operation.
Javier Mendez—head coach at American Kickboxing Academy, where Velasquez and many other elite fighters train—revealed Tuesday that Velasquez may be out beyond March, which was the initial time frame targeted for the injured champ’s return. Velasquez received the operation on Oct. 23.
“The surgery went well, but there was more damage than anticipated,” Mendez said Tuesday on The MMA Hour broadcast with host Ariel Helwani. “It turned out the MCL was worse. They had to put two anchors on it, so he’ll be out a little longer than anticipated because of the damage to the MCL.
“We’ll see,” Mendez added. “Only time will tell. Let’s hope for March, April or something of that nature.”
The UFC announced earlier in October that a partial meniscus tear and an MCL sprain would cause Velasquez to miss his much-anticipated title defense against Fabricio Werdum at UFC 180. The main event drew massive interest because UFC 180 will take place in Mexico City, where the Mexican-American Velasquez is a popular athletic figure.
Mendez indicated that the “slight tear” of the meniscus was something they had planned to work through at first but that an MCL sprain sustained during training was the metaphorical straw that broke the camel’s back.
“He was working on sprawling drills, and it was a little slippery, and when he went to sprawl, his knee went one way and his body went another way, and next thing you know, I hear a yelp, and I’m thinking ‘oh, crap,'” Mendez recalled. “So the combination of…the slight tear in the meniscus and that [the sprained MCL], it just was a little much.”
Just to let everyone know UFC HW Champ @cainmma surgery was a success today and he is doing well.
— AKA HQ (@AKA_HQ) October 24, 2014
Thanks to a litany of injuries, mainly in his knees and shoulders, the 32-year-old Velasquez (13-1) has only fought three times since recapturing the heavyweight title in December 2012. As a result of his extended layoffs, an interim heavyweight title will be on the line when Werdum faces replacement fighter Mark Hunt at UFC 180.
When asked, the head trainer stopped short of labeling Velasquez with the “injury-prone” tag but did wonder aloud about Velasquez’s multiple injuries and their ramifications for the champion’s career.
“I believe if he’d never gotten injured, he’d be the greatest heavyweight of all time right now because of what the guy can do,” Mendez said. “Is it overtraining? I don’t know. … Is it him pushing himself past the barriers or is his body weak? I don’t know. I don’t have the answer to that.”
Mendez said Velasquez is currently on crutches. After two weeks on crutches, Velasquez will spend six weeks in a brace.
“Whatever he has to do to get back in there,” Mendez said, “that’s what he’ll do.”
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com