AKA responds to DFW ‘stone age’ charge
Cain Velasquez: “Yeah, I’ve had some injuries. But when we fight, nobody says we’re not training right when they look at the way we fight. We’re going to keep doing it.”
The baddest man on the planet has not fought since October of 2013, due to a series of injuries. A frustrated UFC president Dana White recently placed the blame on training practices at AKA.
Dave Meltzer for MMAFighting.com recently spoke with several figures about the issue, including Velasquez and AKA founder and head coach Javier Mendez.
“You know what, I’ve always considered this gym as an old school gym,” said Velasquez. “He says stone age, I say old school.
“The best way to prepare for a fight is to fight. Yeah, I’ve had some injuries. But when we fight, nobody says we’re not training right when they look at the way we fight. We’re going to keep doing it. We could get injured again, but you don’t come into training with those thoughts. I don’t go in thinking about getting injured. We go to work, beat each other up, just like a fight. We don’t go into a fight with those thoughts either.”
Mendez responded in a more measured fashion, but said that the injuries that lead to both shoulders being operated on occurred during fights.
“I love the fact that he’s bringing attention to that and it does help me look to ways to improve,” said the coach. “I’ve been looking to improve the injury rate, and it does concern me.”
“That’s why I love Dana, he brought attention so we can correct ourselves. From the beginning of MMA training, we’re always going to evolve. It shows he cares, but he’s wrong for accusing us. I think he’s primarily accusing us because we have the heavyweight champion.”
“If you want to get rid of injuries, you’ll have to get rid of the UFC.”
The coach said they have focused increasingly on boxing, which has a lower injury rate than does wrestling, but noted that it is not possible to fight without significant wrestling training, and that boxing can lead to head trauma.
UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez fights UFC interim heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum in the main event of UFC 188 on June 13 in Mexico City, Mexico.