There’s A Major Change In Store For UFC 196 After A Cain Velasquez Injury

Less than two weeks from Cain Velasquez’s UFC 196 bid to reclaim his title from Fabricio Werdum, the former heavyweight demigod has once again fallen to an injury; now Stipe Miocic will get the title shot he’s been asking for. This isn’t new for Cain, sadly. Velasquez started his reign over the heavyweight division in 2010 when he decimated Brock Lesnar at UFC 121, but was stuck on the sidelines for over a year after he tore his right rotator cuff in the fight.

Velasquez would then lose his title to Junior dos Santos at the first UFC on FOX, and injuries kept piling up for Velasquez, who would only fight five more times over the next four years. A healthy Cain would regain his belt, dominate JDS and Bigfoot Silva twice each in that time, then would be injured once again, tearing his meniscus. After twenty months away from the Octagon, Cain would go on to lose the title no one expected him to ever drop to Fabricio Werdum at UFC 188. A rematch was immediately set up, and now we’re here, with Cain injuring his back, out and Stipe stepping in on next to no notice.

The last time we saw Stipe, he was dominating former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski at UFC 195 on January 2nd, so he should be in decent shape for this battle, but taking on Fabricio Werdum with little notice isn’t going to be easy.

(Via Twitter)