It Looks Like We Won’t Be Seeing Cain Velasquez in the Octagon Anytime Soon

(Get comfortable, champ. You’re gonna be there a while. Via Cain’s Instagram.)

Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is kind of like Santa Claus, in that he only comes around once a year and delivers presents, if you will, in the form of vicious beatings for our entertainment. We haven’t seen Cain in the octagon since his October 2013 title defense over Junior Dos Santos in their trilogy match at UFC 166, but following a successful shoulder surgery in December, it was believed that Velasquez would back in action by late 2014.

Well kids, it looks like Christmas is cancelled this year, as other lingering injuries and a possible coaching gig on The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America may keep Velasquez sidelined until 2015. Yep, 2015. Said Ariel Helwani on last night’s edition of UFC Tonight:

I spoke to his wrestling coach and he told me that Cain’s doctor cleared him to use his right hand in training two weeks ago, but he’s not sure if Cain’s ready to use the left hand yet. He’s not sure if he’ll be ready by November. He said he won’t rush into the fight that’s targeted for then. He won’t fight until he’s 100 percent. There’s talk of Cain coaching The Ultimate Fighter Latin America, and the UFC has approached him about it, and they could film it in May in Las Vegas. It would be a likely scenario that he’d coach against Werdum now.

God. Damn. It.

So not only do we have to wait for Anthony Pettis to run the TUF gauntlet before we see him fight again, but now Velasquez is being put on the back burner? And to coach the international version of a notoriously cursed show as far as coaches go?

CagePotato Ban: Placing entire divisions on hold for a goddamn reality show. Or not stripping a champion of his/her belt after a year of inactivity. Either or.

-J. Jones