One day after Cain Velasquez was officially removed from his rematch with UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum at UFC 196, Werdum is now off the card with an injury.
On Sunday night, UFC president Dana White broke the news that Cain Velasquez was out of the UFC 196 main event against Fabricio Werdum, and would be replaced by Stipe Miocic. Today, Werdum confirmed with MMA Fighting that he’s off the February 7th card due to a foot injury.
“I was already injured,” Werdum told Brazilian journalists on Monday. “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 percent.”
Werdum also says he’ll be ready to fight again in “two to three months”, and is open to facing either Velasquez or Miocic.
So as it stands, UFC 196 does not have a main event. There’s no word yet on whether or not Miocic will remain on the card as the main event against a different opponent. The UFC could also promote Johny Hendricks vs. Stephen Thompson from co-main to main, but no moves have been announced yet. Bloody Elbow will update the post as soon as new details emerge.