Cain Velasquez removed from USADA testing pool, UFC rankings

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has been officially removed from both the USADA testing pool and the UFC rankings.

The moves are an indication that Velasquez is done with MMA, at least for the time being. The former two-time UFC heavyweight champion recently made an appearance on WWE Smackdown, putting the pain on former Octagon rival Brock Lesnar.

The news of Velasquez leaving the UFC testing pool was recently revealed in a report from MMAjunkie.com. The report stated the following:

“Velasquez has informed the UFC of his intention to withdraw from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) testing pool, effectively signaling his retirement from active MMA competition.”

As for the UFC rankings, Velasquez was removed from them this week as Reddit user _MMA_ pointed out in a recent post.

Interestingly, because Velasquez has been removed from the rankings, fighters on losing skids like Tai Tuivasa — who was stopped at UFC 243 — were actually bumped up a spot in the rankings. Marcin Tybura, who is also on a losing skid, took Velasquez’s spot in the top-15.

Velasquez was one of the top fighters in the UFC in the early 2010s, but he had a hard time staying healthy. He has only fought once in the last three years, losing via TKO to Francis Ngannou earlier this year. His last fight prior to that was at UFC 200 in July 2016, when he knocked out Travis Browne. That was his last win in MMA.

If Velasquez is truly done with the sport of mixed martial arts, he will go down as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, although his inability to stay healthy could hinder his eventual UFC Hall of Fame chances. He went 14-3 in his MMA career, which began back in 2006, including a 12-3 record in the UFC between 2008 and 2019. He first won the UFC heavyweight title from Lesnar back in 2010, losing it in his first title defense to Junior dos Santos. He then won the title back in December 2012 from JDS and defended it twice before losing it to Fabricio Werdum in June 2015.

Do you think Cain Velasquez will ever compete in MMA again?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/7/2019.