Cain Velasquez Explains Why He’s Glad He Took Time Off From MMA
Cain Velasquez explains why he’s glad that he decided to take time off from MMA competition.
Velasquez was unable to compete in 2017 or 2018. If you recall, he was most recently supposed to fight fellow former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum. However, he had to pull out of the bout due to a lingering injury in his back which ultimately required surgery. His last fight saw him beat Travis Browne way back at UFC 200 in July 2016.
Now, the former UFC heavyweight champion is slated to fight title contender Francis Ngannou in the headliner of UFC on ESPN. While doing a recent interview with MMA Junkie, he talked about taking time off in order to focus on his family and getting healthy.
“I’ve had some injuries throughout my career; I got that all squared away and all healed up, and I extended my family, as well. We have a 1-year-old boy. I wanted to be there for the whole pregnancy, for the whole first year. It was kind of hard when we had our daughter. … There was a lot of stuff that I missed that I didn’t like missing. So with the time off, I just got to be with my family. There isn’t a lot of people who can take time off for two years, but I had that luxury, and I wanted to be there for my family, which to me was most important. I’m glad I did it. I love just having the time to be there for them.”
UFC on ESPN is set to take place on Saturday, February 17,
