White: No way in Hell Cain should be fighting now

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez gave an interview last week in which he revealed he was training with notable pain, and that only Cannabidiolwas helping. The Nevada Athletic Commission removed him from a scheduled fight with Fabricio Werdum at UFC 207. Velasquez protested the decision, with characteristic restraint and respect.

UFC president Dana White is not shy about criticizing the NAC when he feels it is merited and lost all the money spent on marketing the fight. However, during a rare media scrum, the UFC boss spoke in defense of the NAC decision.

Read the interview,” said White, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMA Fighting. “It doesn’t sound like he wants to fight to me. When you’re a fighter, and you do an interview days before a fight and say you can’t stand for 10 minutes, that’s insanity. First of all, this is the best organization in the world for fighting. He’s fighting one of the best fighters on Earth, and that fights last 15 minutes.

You know how irresponsible it would be, not only for the UFC, but for any athletic commission to allow that fight to happen? It absolutely makes no sense. I love Cain. Cain’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. But if you read that article, it does not sound like he wants to fight.

I think that interview happened and I think he was honest. Maybe he didn’t really think that would happen. Every fighter, you guys have been watching these fights for 16 years, every time a guy loses a fight and gets up there and goes, ‘yeah, my back is broke. I blew my knee out two weeks ago. I twisted my ankle.’ After the fight, you say it. If you go in before a fight saying those things, you will be taken out of the fight.

His doctor said get a surgery, he was dealing with pain, which is completely normal for the injury. He was dealing with pain and he was just going to have the surgery after the fight. What he didn’t say is, ‘I can’t stand for 10 minutes. I can’t do this.’ And even Jeff Novitzky was there, said he was having trouble standing up and sitting down at the doctor’s office. So there’s no way in hell that guy should be fighting right now.

The fighter did, in fact, say that the pain in his right leg was, to a point where if you’re standing for 10 minutes, you have to sit down.

Velasquez acknowledged only that he was perhaps too transparent, but avered that he will always be forthright in his communications. It is axiomatic that everyone fights hurt, but there are degrees of hurt. Velasquez clearly exceeded the degree to which you can discuss hurt before a fight in public, and apparently exceed the acceptable limit of hurt as well. Hopefully, his example does not make other fighters further withhold information about their injury level.