Coach Javier Mendez gives update on Cain Velasquez’s condition

Cain Velasquez is one of the greatest heavyweights alive. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been very active over the last few years, as he’s been sidelined by a hellish procession of injuries.

Velasquez’s latest injury issue pertained to his back. Though he recently went under the knife to correct this issue, his coach Javier Mendez claims the surgery didn’t go as planned.

“The surgery has not gone the way it was supposed to have gone. So, we’ll see with time,” Mendez told Starsport. “But Cain has been spending time with his family and doing other things. He comes in here [to American Kickboxing Academy] once in a while.”

“He’s not back training yet.”

While Velasquez is still dealing with his back problems, he was hellbent on fighting through them last December, when he was scheduled to rematch a fellow former champion in Fabricio Werdum. Unfortunately, the Nevada State Athletic Commission wouldn’t let him fight so injured.

Speaking to Starsport, Mendez reminded the MMA Community of this fact.

“He didn’t pull out, the fight was pulled from him from the state athletic commission.” he said. 

“He was ready to fight Fabricio, he was 100-percent ready to go and 100-percent able to do it without any further injury. But the state athletic commission chose to not risk it as they’re known for not taking risks.

“Because if there’s that one-percent chance of injury, they’re not going to risk it. So that’s what happened there. That was an unfortunate situation.

“But Cain was ready to fight, prepared to fight, in shape to fight, sparring 100-percent the way he needed to fight.”

Mendez then updated on what Cain Velasquez has been up to, and promised he still has the desire to fight:

“He’s not lost the desire to fight, he’s just waiting for some time, spending time with the family and doing other things he loves,” Mendez explained. 

“He loves doing acting, movies and all that type of stuff. So anything involving the film industry, he loves that stuff. And anything in the car industry he loves.

“But the number one thing is his family. So those are the things he’s focused on now. When his body is 100-percent healthy and his mind will be intact with that healthiness, then he’ll be ready to fight.”

Do you think we’ll ever see Cain Velasquez back in the Octagon? Who do you want to see him fight if so?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 9/19/2017.