Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez was set to rematch Fabricio Werdum at this weekend’s (Friday December 30, 2016) UFC 207 pay-per-view (PPV) event, but was unfortunately removed from the bout by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC). Velasquez was dealing with some nagging injuries that he had already scheduled surgery to correct after his
Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez was set to rematch Fabricio Werdum at this weekend’s (Friday December 30, 2016) UFC 207 pay-per-view (PPV) event, but was unfortunately removed from the bout by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).
Velasquez was dealing with some nagging injuries that he had already scheduled surgery to correct after his contest with Werdum, and had openly admitted to using CBD oil to help deal with the pain. After being removed from the contest by the NSAC, however, Velasquez will have to wait to avenge his UFC 188 submission loss to Werdum from June of 2015.
One man who believes that Velasquez intentionally aired out his own dirty laundry to get removed from the bout against Werdum is none other than No. 5-ranked heavyweight Ben Rothwell (courtesy of MMA Mania), who isn’t buying that the Mexican star didn’t know the commission would remove him from the contest after his comments:
“People are also surprised Cain got pulled and that baffles me because it’s not surprising at all. He started saying all that sh*t in public knowing he’s going to get pulled. Telling the commission you’re doing marijuana to manage pain and your back surgery is already scheduled is a surefire way to tell them you’re not fit to fight. But that’s pretty convenient because now it doesn’t look like Cain pulled out and it’s the commission who wouldn’t let him fight.
“Cain going public with all that sh*t two weeks before a fight is evidence he didn’t want to fight. Don’t sit there and tell me you’ve been in this business for that many years and don’t f*****g know how this works. You obviously needed them to pull you out of the fight.”
Do you agree with Rothwell’s claims? Did Velasquez really not want to compete at this weekend’s PPV event? Or is it merely a matter of unfortunate coincidence?
Reigning UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic currently does not have his next title defense scheduled, but it’s expected that he’ll take on the winner of UFC 207’s rematch between former champions Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez. Another potential title challenger, however, could be No. 4-ranked ex-champion Junior Dos Santos, who recently took to his official
Reigning UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic currently does not have his next title defense scheduled, but it’s expected that he’ll take on the winner of UFC 207’s rematch between former champions Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez.
Another potential title challenger, however, could be No. 4-ranked ex-champion Junior Dos Santos, who recently took to his official Twitter account to call out Miocic:
Hey @stipemiocicufc enjoy Thanksgiving in ur new home- hope it’s filled w great food & friends. Let’s fight after the holidays?Brooklyn? LMK
Miocic and Dos Santos have squared off once before back at UFC on FOX 13 where “Cigano” got the nod after a five round slug fest. JDS most recently scored a dominant decision victory over No. 5-ranked Ben Rothwell.
Rothwell, however, doesn’t feel as if the Brazilian is deserving of a title shot, as he told Miocic to tell Dos Santos to ‘f*ck off’:
@stipemiocicufc serious who cares man. @junior_cigano called you out, tell him to fuck off. Are we going to build the HW division or what?
Current No. 10-ranked UFC heavyweight Derrick ‘The Black Beast’ Lewis is coming off of the biggest win of his career, as he took home a split decision win over Roy Nelson at UFC Fight Night 90 this past July. Now the Houstonian is itching to get back into the Octagon against big name competition, and
Current No. 10-ranked UFC heavyweight Derrick ‘The Black Beast’ Lewis is coming off of the biggest win of his career, as he took home a split decision win over Roy Nelson at UFC Fight Night 90 this past July.
Now the Houstonian is itching to get back into the Octagon against big name competition, and has former heavyweight king Fabricio Werdum on his radar.
Werdum was previously scheduled to co-headline UFC 203 in Cleveland against No. 5-ranked Ben Rothwell, but unfortunately ‘Big Ben’ was forced out of the competition citing an injury which opened up the door for No. 7-ranked Travis Browne to step in and save the day.
Despite Browne stepping in for the injured Rothwell, Lewis would take to social media to express his displeasure for the UFC’s emergency booking:
‘Vai Cavalo’ has seen Lewis’ campaigns for a bout against him and, courtesy of MMA Junkie, the former Brazilian champ believes a matchup against ‘The Black Beast’ would certainly be a dangerous one:
“I think the fans would also like a fight against him,” Werdum said. “He’s dangerous, strong, heavy, right there at the limit. But Travis Browne will also be interesting, also because it’s a rematch, they want to see it as well. With anyone, really, the important thing is coming out victorious.”
Despite the fact that he was not able to step in at UFC 203, Lewis is ready to get back inside of the Octagon and believes he can beat anyone in the UFC’s heavyweight division:
“I’m always working on myself,” Lewis said. “I really don’t care about my opponent. His strong suit or whatever, or his weakness, I’m just worrying about myself.
I feel like as long as my condition is on point I don’t believe anyone can beat me. I don’t care who that is.”
Lewis was asked how he believes he matches up with current heavyweight king Stipe Miocic, and concluded that in the big boys’ division i only takes one shot to put the other man across from him to sleep:
“I think I match up very well,” Lewis said. “He’s a heavyweight and everyone in the heavyweight division… One hand he can knock you out and this and that.
You know, I just look at everyone as just average, really. I feel like everyone in the heavyweight division can win on any given day. I don’t believe anyone in the division, even myself, is unbeatable.
It really doesn’t matter. I look at all of them the same, everyone average.”
When asked on his thoughts of the newly-established fighter’s union Lewis had no knowledge of it’s existence but admitted he believes it is a good thing, while also stating that he doesn’t believe in the fighters’ need for a manager a the moment:
“I guess it’s a good thing,” Lewis said. “If it’s got anything to do with us making more money, I’m down with it. I believe we don’t need a manager right now, they can’t get us no sponsors or anything. So we’re wasting money on managers.”
When told that his manager might be offended by his comments, Lewis had this to say:
“I don’t care, what is he going to do?” Lewis said.“‘We can’t manage you no more, I don’t want your percentage?’ OK”
Earlier in the year Lewis made a bold prediction that 70 percent of the UFC’s heavyweight division are abusing performance enhancing drugs (PED’s), and now the former George Foreman boxing product is claiming he has no problem stepping into a cage fight against man who is ‘juicing’:
“I don’t care if the guy is juicing or not, it really don’t matter,” Lewis said. “That stuff don’t help, you know. It just makes you look good. But I believe steroids don’t give you that extra boost when you go out there.
First of all, I believe the guys taking it, they’re really insecure. So, that’s the only advantage I see. Just being insecure about it and making yourself feel good. I guess they think they have that extra boost.”
Following the interview Lewis took to Instagram to post that he will be taking on Marcin Tybura at UFC Fight Night 97 in Pasay, Manila, and his representatives confirmed the bout shortly after.
UFC Fight Night 97 takes place live from the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Manila on October 15, 2016.
It looks like former UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum and Travis Browne will soon be dance partners inside the Octagon once again.
Werdum was originally scheduled to fight Ben Rothwell in his next bout, however the news surfaced earlier this…
It looks like former UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum and Travis Browne will soon be dance partners inside the Octagon once again.
Werdum was originally scheduled to fight Ben Rothwell in his next bout, however the news surfaced earlier this week that Rothwell was forced to pull out of the fight due to an injury, rumored to be a torn meniscus and potential ACL issue.
MMAJunkie.com was first to report the news that “Hapa” Browne is expected to be the replacement for Rothwell in the match against the Brazilian heavyweight veteran.
Werdum and Browne fought against each other the first time back at the UFC On FOX 11 event in April of 2014, with a shot at the UFC Heavyweight Championship on the line. Werdum would dominate and defeat Browne by way of unanimous decision and would then go on to beat Cain Velasquez to win the title.
In his last fight, Werdum was knocked out by Stipe Miocic in the first round to lose the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Meanwhile, Browne suffered a loss in his last Octagon appearance as well, as former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez defeated him at the landmark UFC 200 event.
The Werdum-Browne 2 fight is expected to take place as part of the UFC 203 pay-per-view, which takes place at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday, September 10, 2016 and features Stipe Miocic vs. Alistair Overeem for the UFC Heavyweight Championship as the main event. Also scheduled for the card is the Octagon debut of former WWE Superstar Phil “CM Punk” Brooks, as he takes on Mickey Gall.
Join us here at MMANews.com on 9/10 for live coverage of the UFC 203 pay-per-view!
According to a report by MMAjunkie, UFC heavyweight contender Ben Rothwell has been forced out of next month’s UFC 203 co-main event fight with Fabricio Werdum.
The report states that the…
According to a report by MMAjunkie, UFC heavyweight contender Ben Rothwell has been forced out of next month’s UFC 203 co-main event fight with Fabricio Werdum.
The report states that the promotion is actively seeking a replacement to keep Werdum, a former UFC heavyweight champion, on the September 10 card from Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena.
Rothwell (36-10) has gone 6-4 over his UFC career, but was recently bested by former champion Junior dos Santos after four consecutive wins. A member of his team stated that Rothwell suffered a torn meniscus and possible ACL injury.
Werdum (20-6-1) dropped the title to Stipe Miocic earlier this year in Brazil. He is 8-3 over two stints with the UFC.
Miocic is set to make his first defense on the card in his home state against top challenger Alistair Overeem.
The co-main event of UFC 203 has taken a major hit. According to MMA Junkie’s Steven Marrocco on Twitter, No. 5-ranked heavyweight Ben Rothwell has pulled out of his scheduled contest against Fabricio Werdum citing an unfortunate knee injury. The UFC is reportedly seeking a replacement opponent for Werdum now: Ben Rothwell has sustained a
The co-main event of UFC 203 has taken a major hit.
According to MMA Junkie’s Steven Marrocco on Twitter, No. 5-ranked heavyweight Ben Rothwell has pulled out of his scheduled contest against Fabricio Werdum citing an unfortunate knee injury.
The UFC is reportedly seeking a replacement opponent for Werdum now:
Ben Rothwell has sustained a knee injury and is out of UFC 203. UFC seeking replacement opponent. Story coming to https://t.co/81ChzC22BM.
Rothwell (36-10) comes off of a unanimous decision loss to Junior dos Santos at UFC Fight Night 86 back in April, he was previously riding an impressive five-fight win streak before suffering the disappointing loss.
Werdum (20-6-1) is fighting to re-enter the title picture after suffering a brutal first round knockout loss to Stipe Miocic in Brazil, dropping his heavyweight strap in his first career UFC title defense.
‘Vai Cavalo’ had previously choked out former champion Cain Velasquez in the third round of their main event meeting at UFC 188, where Werdum secured the undisputed heavyweight throne.
Now it seems Werdum will have to sit back and await a new challenger that the UFC is currently searching for to step in on one month’s notice to face the former champ.
One viable candidate is the former heavyweight king Velasquez who is coming off of an impressive showing against Travis Browne at UFC 200, in which he finished ‘Hapa’ in the first round of the heavyweight contest.
Velasquez would certainly love a shot at redemption against Werdum who took his title away from him, and added insult to injury by doing so in front of his native crowd in Mexico City.
What are your thoughts? Could Velasquez step in on one month’s notice and contend with Werdum for the next shot at the heavyweight title?
Earlier in the year Lewis made a bold prediction that 70 percent of the UFC’s heavyweight division are abusing performance enhancing drugs (PED’s), and now the former George Foreman boxing product is claiming he has no problem stepping into a cage fight against man who is ‘juicing’:
