Ben Rothwell: Cain Velasquez used media to get himself pulled from UFC 207

Unfortunate news surfaced this past weekend that former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez had been pulled form his scheduled UFC 207 fight with Fabricio Werdum on December 30th after failing an extra pre-fight medical screening following news of a back injury he endured during training camp.

Velasquez had been very open about the fact that he was dealing with a back injury leading up to the fight, which would require surgery just days after the fight. Despite that, the former champ was able to go through training camp at 100% with the help of CBD Oil. While Velasquez made it to fight week healthy, and ready to fight, after the NSAC caught wind of the injury, they ultimately chose to pull Velasquez for medical reasons.

The way fellow heavyweight Ben Rothwell sees it, Velasquez never wanted to fight, and used the media to get himself pulled from the fight without making himself look bad.

He spoke to FloCombat:

“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.”

So far there has been no word as to when Velasquez will be able to return to the Octagon. In the meantime however, Werdum has stated that with Velasquez unable to make the fight, he would like the rematch with Stipe Miocic.