“Gotta grab opportunity when it comes knocking”, Miocic wrote on social media after White mad the announcement of the revised card.
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Cain Velasquez has injured his back and has been forced out of his scheduled heavyweight title fight against champion Fabricio Werdum at UFC 196 in February.
Bleacher Report noted that Miocic has a solid wrestling background and good technical boxing skills, but his lack of name recognition among casual UFC fans hindered his rise to the top.
The UFC did not offer any specifics on Velasquez’s injury or a timetable for when he could make his return to the Octagon.
Injuries have repeatedly derailed Velasquez, who won the UFC championship in 2010 and again in 2012. But now the former champ is out of the fight with a back issue and #1 contender Stipe Miocic will step up to fight for the belt. “But sometimes no matter how much the heart and mind want to fight through an injury, healing has its own timeline”.
My fans deserve to see me compete as close to 100 [percent] as possible. Cain can’t fight. I was going to hide the injury one more time, like I always did. I made this decision because I’m not feeling 100 per cent.
Of course, if Miocic goes out and defeats Werdum, then maybe this rematch doesn’t happen so soon right?
“Fabricio, I hope that you accept my honest apology”.
Miocic, 33, was promised a title shot after a first-round knockout over Andrei Arlovski earlier this month.
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From the time he arrived in the UFC, you could tell that from a physical standpoint, Velasquez had “It”. “I have to think about everything now, I can’t think and act like I did when I was 20”.
