Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Cain Velasquez has no imminent plans to fight in MMA again after all.
It appears that Cain Velasquez is moving on from MMA to put a full-time focus on his budding pro wrestling career.
The former UFC heavyweight champion has informed the UFC he plans to withdraw from the USADA drug-testing pool, MMA Junkie reported Friday night. This is a good indication Velasquez is retiring from the sport, as any active UFC fighter must be enrolled in the anti-doping program.
This news comes on the same night that Velasquez made an appearance at WWE’s Smackdown debut on FOX. Velasquez confronted WWE Universal Champion and ex-UFC champ Brock Lesnar, whom he beat for the UFC belt in 2010.
Check out video of Velasquez’s first WWE appearance:
Here is Cain Velasquez’s debut on WWE TV. Who could have predicted all this at the start of the year? pic.twitter.com/Q1RU8YHjGm
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 5, 2019
Velasquez, who competed in MMA for the first time since 2016 this past February in a knockout loss to Francis Ngannou, told Bloody Elbow in August that he still planned to fight again.
Velasquez made his pro wrestling debut two months ago at Mexico City’s TripleMania, a major show for the Mexico-based Lucha Libre AAA promotion. He also competed last month at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York.
Per the UFC anti-doping program, retired UFC athletes must make themselves available in the drug-testing pool for six months before being eligible to return to action.