Cain Velasquez talks about his struggles with injury and how he plans to stay healthy heading into his fight with Travis Browne at UFC 200.
Cain Velasquez was touted as the next heavyweight phenom to succeed Fedor Emelianenko. Aside from the shocking first round KO loss to Junior dos Santos in 2011, the American Kickboxing Academy protege had looked unstoppable inside the Octagon. It was outside the Octagon that proved to be Velasquez’ biggest challenge.
The former two-time champion has nursed injuries on-and-off for the past three years, and UFC 200 will mark another full year of absence from the ring.
The Mexican-American was originally scheduled to rematch Fabricio Werdum in February – Werdum submitted Cain at UFC 188 to become the new heavyweight champion – but another injury forced Velasquez onto the sidelines.
Training at AKA in San Jose, California with longtime coach Javier Mendez, Velasquez says training can be intense but feels the academy has come under some unnecessary fire as of late.
“We do hard workouts that take a toll on your body, but it benefits us when we’re out there in the fight,” Velasquez said to the media in Los Angeles on Tuesday, per Elias Cepeda of FOX Sports.”It’s good and bad.”
With a wealth of championship experience under his belt, Velasquez doesn’t feel sparring is as beneficial as it was during his early years and plans to rework his schedule heading into UFC 200.
“Sparring three times a week isn’t as beneficial to me as, say, a guy who is just coming into the sport. I think I’ll cut sparring down to two days a week, maybe even one day .As long as I’m conditioned and sharp, that’s all I need. I’ve had the experience from practice, so that’s all I need.”
Cain Velasquez will look to spring back into the winners column with a win over Travis Browne at UFC 200. The highly anticipated pay-per-view, which will feature Velasquez’s teammate Daniel Cormier taking on Jon Jones in the main event, will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 9.