Velasquez explains use of CBD to fight pain before UFC 207

Cannabis is slowly becoming understood not as a scourge of society (-50s), or an act of anti-establishmentarianism (60s-70s), or as a relatively harmless way to get high (80s-90s), but as a substance with enormous potential health benefits.

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is one of the active cannabinoids in cannabis, accounting for up to 40% of the plant’s extract. However, clinical reports show a lack of psychoactivity and non-interference with several psychomotor learning and psychological functions. Is short, CBD does not get you high. But it does have potential healing properties.

At UFC 207 on December 30, Cain Velasquez fights Fabricio Werdum. Unfortunately, Velasquez is suffering from a sciatic nerve issue in his right leg caused by bone spurs. It leaves him unable to stand for long. Long beset by physical problems, Velasquez had to pull out of a title fight at UFC 196 in March due to pain in his left leg.

“It’s an achy pain that goes down your leg, and it gets to a point where if you’re standing for 10 minutes, you have to sit down,” said Velasquez to Brett Okamoto for ESPN. “If you’re going out for a while, a half-hour, you know it’s going to be pretty painful. You have to sit down and take the compression off your back.

“The surgery is basically shaving off some bone to make room for my sciatic nerve. After the last surgery, the doctor said I might be pain-free forever, but knowing how I train and what I do as a fighter, the pain could come back. I didn’t really know how long I was going to feel good. It ended up being about a year.”

For UFC 207, rather than addressing the pain with immediate fight-cancelling surgery, the fighter is finding relief, albeit temporary, with CBD.

“It’s the only thing that allows me to still train, and I’m not taking a harmful painkiller into my body that I’ll later become addicted to,” said Velasquez. “I don’t know how everyone is going to feel about me saying this, but this is just one of the hard facts we as fighters have to go through. In the past, in the NFL, players have gotten addicted to painkillers. I don’t want to be an addict of some sort.”

“As far as preparation, I’ve done everything. I’ve sparred, wrestled. I’m not missing workouts at all. I’ve done my conditioning — everything. I feel great going into this.”

Although it has no psychoactivity, CBD is classified by USADA as a recreational drug. As such, you cannot test positive for it in competition, but out of competition use is permitted. Put plainly, USADA doesn’t care if you drink alcohol, smoke cannabis, or for that matter take hard drugs out of competition. you just can’t compete while high. Competition is defined as six hours before weigh-ins through six hours after the fight.

Velasquez will stop using CBD a week out from the fight, and will get a cortisone shot to help with the pain.

The January 4 surgery will be the eighth time Velasquez has gone under the knife as a pro. It influenced his decision to come out publicly in support of the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association, as the group aims to secure long-term health care for retired athletes.