Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez will need to wait a bit longer for his title shot since he just pulled out of the rematch with Fabricio Werdum at UFC 196. On Sunday, Velasquez released a full statement on Facebook concerning the news and his back injury, which could lead to further injuries if he had taken the fight with Werdum.

Stipe Miocic is now the new title contender and will face the newly minted champion on February 6, 2016 in Las Vegas. Velasquez is known to having a long list of injuries. His shoulder injuries have had a big impact on his UFC career and has only fought once since October 2013. Velasquez lost the belt Werdum at UFC 188 in June 2015.

UFC 196: Werdum vs. Miocic will co-headline a welterweight bout between Johny Hendricks and Stephen Thompson. Stay tuned to Yell! Magazine for more updates to come on UFC 196.

Full Statement from Cain Velasquez

I‘m sure you’ve heard the news that I won’t be able to fight at UFC 196. I can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I am and how I feel I’m letting you all down. I’ve heard and read all of your messages of support since my last fight and during this camp and for that I thank you.

Sincerely,
Cain

There’s been lots of talk in the past few days that it would be great to see Fedor Emelianenko ink a deal with the UFC and get a rematch with heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, but that seems far from happening right now. “The Last Emperor” first needs to determine which organization he wants to fight for and negotiations won’t happen overnight. Werdum can’t sit on the belt while that happens, so the UFC is moving forward for his first legitimate title defense.

On Wednesday, it’s been reported via UFC Tonight that former champion Cain Velasquez will get an immediate rematch with Werdum, following his UFC 188 loss to the Brazilian in June. It’s been also confirmed by UFC President Dana White the rematch has been booked. However, a date for Werdum vs. Velasquez II is not set in stone yet.

Many believe Velasquez lost the belt to Werdum at UFC 188 due to the high elevation of Mexico City, which sits over 7,000 feet about sea level. The rematch should help silence critics if that was the key factor for the loss, or not.

For the main event, heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and interim heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum have to make a limit of 265 pounds. The co-main event features a lightweight bout between Gilbert Melendez and Eddie Alvarez, both of whom will have to make a limit of 155 pounds.

The weigh-ins for UFC 188 starts at 7:00 p.m. ET sharp! Make sure to bookmark this page and watch the live stream right here on Yell! Magazine.

UFC 188 Main card (PPV at 10 p.m. ET)

Cain Velasquez vs. Fabricio Werdum
Gilbert Melendez vs. Eddie Alvarez
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Nate Marquardt
Yair Rodriguez vs. Charles Rosa
Tecia Torres vs. Angela Hill

Undercard (FX at 8 p.m. ET)

Chico Camus vs. Henry Cejudo
Efrain Escudero vs. Drew Dober
Alejandro Perez vs. Patrick Williams
Francisco Trevino vs. Johnny Case

Undercard (UFC Fight Pass at 7 p.m. ET)

Augusto Montano vs. Cathal Pendred
Gabriel Benitez vs. Clay Collard
Albert Turnenov vs. Andrew Todhunter called off

In addition, we also included below the other Countdown clip featuring Red-hot lightweights Gilbert Melendez and Eddie Alvarez as they brace for their showdown, which has been talked about by fans for years.

UFC 188 takes place on June 13, 2015 at Arena Ciudad de México in Mexico City, Mexico.

Countdown to UFC 188: Gilbert Melendez vs. Eddie Alvarez

https://youtu.be/ZRLQA2vSbrY

Last night, Brazil’s Fabricio Werdum was crowned the new UFC interim heavyweight champion after defeating Mark Hunt at UFC 180 in main event. Afterwards, news quickly surfaced that UFC President Dana White was contemplating on stripping Cain Velasquez of his long-held heavyweight title if he doesn’t return to fight before March 2015.

Apparently, it’s not entirely the way White sees the situation now after clarifying his comment about Velasquez via a UFC 180 post-fight show on FOX Sports.

White said,

That is so not what I said. I’ve literally answered that question all night tonight.

What I said was if we end up in a situation where Cain got injured again, severely injured – if he blew his shoulder out again, if he had to have knee surgery that would keep him out six to a year – then Werdum would become champion.

According to various reports, Velasquez will most likely be ready to fight again before March, which means a title fight with Werdum inside the Octagon in the very near future.

The UFC announced today that UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez suffered a right knee injury during training and was forced to withdraw from his championship fight against No.1 contender Fabricio Werdum in Mexico City on November 15.

As a result, No.4 heavyweight Mark Hunt (10-8-1 in professional MMA, fighting out of Auckland, New Zealand), who is coming off a walk-off knockout against the iron-chinned Roy Nelson in Tokyo in September, will face Werdum (18-5-1, fighting out of Los Angeles via Porto Alegre, Brazil) in the five-round main event for the interim UFC heavyweight title.

I’m so unbelievably disappointed that this happened,” Velasquez said. “To say I was looking forward to fighting in Mexico for the first time is an understatement. I wanted to fight on that card so bad. Looks like it wasn’t meant to be and it’s not going to happen. I’m going to get my [right] knee fixed and get back to training as soon as I can. I’m sorry to the fans in Mexico who were expecting this fight, and I hope to be able to come down and still be a part of this historic event.

For Werdum, it was never about Cain, it was always about the title.

I’m ready for whatever comes. I have been training in Mexico for nearly two months and accept the challenge that is presented to me. I’ll continue to prepare and will arrive ready to fight on behalf of all my Latin American fans, said Werdum.

Mark Hunt, never one to shy away from a big opportunity, wasted no time accepting a dream opportunity to fight for UFC gold.

I feel blessed to have this opportunity to fight for another world title. This is something that doesn’t happen often to people. First K1 and now UFC – how can I say no, even though it’s on short notice? I’m dropping everything and flying to Mexico tomorrow so I can best prepare myself for this fight. I have to get into shape and acclimatize to that environment, which is really important.

There’s nothing to lose when you’re competing against the best at the top level, Hunt added.

UFC 180: WERDUM vs. HUNT scheduled for November 15 at the Arena Mexico City, sold-out in only eight hours, and will welcome more than 20,000 fans. Along with the explosive main event, fans will also be treated to six other bouts featuring Latin American contenders.

Mark Hunt vs. Roy Nelson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGunUlEd50A

Two of the world’s fiercest mixed martial artists are set to let their rivalry play out in front of millions of fans as coaches on the newest season of The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC’s storied reality series, in the lead up to their title clash at UFC 180 in Mexico City. The series will premiere the week of August 18.

UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez (13-1 in his professional career, fighting out of San Jose, Calif.), an agile and explosive heavyweight with a strong wrestling base, is currently the only heavyweight titleholder of Mexican descent in combat sports around the world. Often referred to as “the baddest man on the planet”, he is considered the greatest UFC heavyweight of all time thanks to career wins over former champions Minotauro Nogueira, Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos as well as Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.

No.1 contender Fabricio Werdum (17-5-1, fighting out of Los Angeles, Calif. by way of of Porto Alegre, Brazil) is currently on a four-fight win streak that includes victories over fellow Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Minotauro Nogueira, Fedor Emelianenko, Roy Nelson and most Travis Browne. A two-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, he is also known as a technical fighter with heavy hands. Outside of the Octagon, Werdum is seen across Latin America every week hosting the UFC Network’s weekly magazine show, UFC Ahora.

In this seventh international edition of the most challenging sports tournament on television, Velasquez will lead a team of four Mexican featherweight (135lbs) and four Mexican bantamweight (145lbs) fighters against Werdum’s squad of eight similarly divided fighters from other Latin American countries. The complete list of fighters will be unveiled in the coming weeks.

“I’m very excited about this – amazing talent is going to come out of Mexico and Latin America,” said UFC President Dana White. “This is a region we are working hard to develop. There is a lot of talent and a lot of great potential in multiple weightclasses. We know that the fans in Mexico and throughout Latin America will totally get behind this thing and it’ll blow up and it’ll be huge just like Brazil.”

The show which follows fighters training and competing against each other for a prized UFC contract, all while living under one roof, will air on Televisa Channel.5 in Mexico beginning in August 2014. UFC Network subscribers will also get the chance to catch replays and watch exclusive content on the channel as well as ufcnetwork.com.

José Baston, President of Television and Content for Televisa said:

“We have huge expectations from this partnership between the UFC and Televisa, to produce the new season of The Ultimate Fighter Latin America. This partnership allows us to reunite the vast experience and ability of both companies, for a project that we are sure will be a great success. I’d also like to point out the superb performance that the UFC Network has had since last year, a channel that has been transmitting at a pan-regional level by Televisa Networks. And emphasize that mixed martial arts is one of the new sports with the highest growth, for Televisa it is very important to be able to offer it to its audiences.”

The coaches, UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez will battle No. 1 contender Fabricio Werdum for the heavyweight championship title at the Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City on Saturday, November 15, in the main event of UFC 180. The main card will also feature the final featherweight and bantamweight bouts of the series, crowning the first ever winners of The Ultimate Fighter Latin America. Further event and ticket details will be released later this summer ahead of the scheduled on-sale in the final week of August.

“For me, it’s an honor to be named the first coach of The Ultimate Fighter Latin America,” said Velasquez. “I’m excited to share my experience and help train a young team of up and coming Latin American men. And then, to be able to do something I’ve always dreamed of doing, defending my title in Mexico in November, will be a dream come true.”

There is nothing Werdum would rather do:

“To have a shot at the belt is all I ever wanted and knowing it’s against Cain makes it even better. Fighting for the heavyweight title and coaching against Cain in The Ultimate Fighter Latin America is like having two dreams come true.”

Source: UFC

It’s a wonderful sport that I love so much! When we have great battles against great athletes, what remains is RESPECT.

– former UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos

Here’s a list of the top 10 bloodiest fights in UFC history:

No.10 Jon Koppenhaver vs. Jared Rollins (TUF Finale 6)

Good old War Machine. Before Koppenhaver went legit batshit crazy, he gave the UFC fans one of the most entertaining fights with Jared Rollins. This back-and-forth scrap saw War Machine get cut on the top of his scalp, courtesy of Rollins’ 12-6 elbows. The corner did a good job of cleaning up Koppenhaver so it did not look that serious. He was pretty messy by the end of the first round, with the redness out in full force pouring down his face.

No.9 Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva (UFC 146)

This fight lasted all but one round in which Cain Velasquez laid into “Bigfoot” Silva with some brutal ground and pound. After landing a takedown on Silva a few seconds into the fight, Velasquez proceeded to lay big punches on his opponent. Still on top of Silva, Velasquez landed a nasty elbow that split open a huge cut on “Bigfoot,” which was eventually the demise of the Brazilian.

No.8 Renato Sobral vs. David Heath (UFC 74)

This was one of the most disturbing fights ever in the UFC, but not because of the grotesqueness of it (because we’ve lived through Corey Hill and Minotauro Nogueira). Bleeding from the nose as a result of a left hook combined with an elbow slicer from “Babalu,” Heath was literally a bloody mess. As Sobral held onto a choke he applied on Heath, he forced Heath to go out after Heath tapped out, making this one of the most unfortunate moments in the UFC. Blood was raining down on the victor’s forearms, making it that much more excruciating to watch.

No.7 Stefan Struve vs. Denis Stojnic (UFC 99)

This was arguably the fight that put Stefan Struve on the map. Coming back from behind and more or less losing the entire fight, Struve was split open by Stojnic’s elbow and hammer fists. Being on his back for most of the fight, he gained momentum on an exhausted Stojnic and submitted him with a rear-naked choke. As Struve applied the submission, his face was drenched in blood and the Octagon looked as if there was a Ketchup explosion that surrounded the grounded fighters.

No.6 Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar (TUF Finale 1)

The most important fight in the history of the UFC was simply fun and pleasant to watch (if you’re as sadistic as this writer). This was one of the few times when blood didn’t matter; in a sense where both fighters did not stop the pace for a second and the blood looked like the icing on the cake to a perfect moment for the sport of MMA. Both fighters bleeding from having perhaps the greatest fight in our sport would have made grown men cry that day worse than a teenage girl through Beatlemania.

Wow! Epic fight after epic fight at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, last night. If you missed it, I highly encourage you watch the entire replay of UFC 166: Velasquez vs. dos Santos III because all the bouts starting from the prelims to the main event were awesome.

Guys, history was made right here. The bloody war between UFC lightweights, Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez alone was worth the ticket price alone. It’s a shame this fight didn’t have the championship rounds. Afterward, I found new respect for Sanchez, a former TUF winner and a true people’s champion, for giving it all in the third round. At the post-fighter presser, both guys picked up a hefty $60,000 Fight of The Night bonus award.

As for the main event, it turned out exactly how most people predicted. Velasquez dominated dos Santos just like he did at UFC 155. At the beginning of the first round, dos Santos landed nice clean shots to the head, but Cain soon managed to avoid them by closing the distances and pushing dos Santos up against the fence in every round. Velasquez was able to score a few takedowns and once again prove his skills are superior to the ones of dos Santos, both standing and on the ground. Referee Herb Dean finally stopped the fight in the fifth round at 3:09, and Velasquez won via TKO finish.

Below are all the results for UFC 166, check them out!

UFC 166 Main Event

Heavyweight Cain Velasquez (c) def. Junior dos Santos TKO (strikes)
Heavyweight Daniel Cormier def. Roy Nelson Decision (unanimous)
Lightweight Gilbert Melendez def. Diego Sanchez Decision (unanimous)
Heavyweight Gabriel Gonzaga def. Shawn Jordan TKO (punches)
Flyweight John Dodson def. Darrell Montague KO (punches)

Preliminary card (Fox Sports 1)

Middleweight Tim Boetsch def. C.B. Dollaway Decision (split)
Welterweight Hector Lombard def. Nate Marquardt KO (punches)
Women’s Bantamweight Jessica Eye def. Sarah Kaufman Decision (split)
Lightweight KJ Noons def. George Sotiropoulos Decision (unanimous)

Preliminary card (Facebook/Youtube)

Welterweight Adlan Amagov def. TJ Waldburger KO (punches)
Lightweight Tony Ferguson def. Mike Rio Submission (d’arce choke)
Catchweight Andre Fili def. Jeremy Larsen TKO (punches)
Bantamweight Kyoji Horiguchi def. Dustin Pague TKO (punches)

Bonus Awards ($60,000)

Fight of The Night: Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez
Knockout of The Night: John Dodson
Submission of the Night: Tony Ferguson