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Cain Velasquez: 'Medical marijuana is the only thing that allows me to still train'
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Cain Velasquez: 'Medical marijuana is the only thing that allows me to still train'

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:06 p.m. ET

Cain Velasquez relies on medical marijuana to get him through his training sessions.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is in a constant state of pain.

With a myriad of medical setbacks forcing him to watch from the sideline, it seems the former Arizona State wrestling standout has gone under the knife more than he’s actually stepped foot into the Octagon.

While he has managed to hobble his body to get in recent months, that hasn’t kept the pain at bay.

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“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,” Velasquez told ESPN.com. “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.”

As a result of these symptoms, Velasquez revealed he’s already planned to undergo back surgery following his rematch against Fabricio Werdum at UFC 207.

“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.”

Werdum (21-7-1) previously submitted  Velasquez (14-2) in their title fight at UFC 188 last July, dethroning the then-champion in the process.

Velasquez would later rebound with a dominant TKO over Travis Browne at UFC 200 in July. This marked his first win since his decimation of long-time rival Junior dos Santos at UFC 166 in October 2013. Since that night, a myriad of injuries had forced Velasquez to watch the heavyweight division unfold from the sidelines.

But with the constant pain from the constant setbacks hindering his performance, the former champion revealed he’s actually turned to Cannabidiol (CBD) to help dull the pain during training camp

According to the report, Velasquez first used CBD, a compound found in cannabis, to help cope with his surgery earlier this year. But when the pain returned, he utilized CBD oral spray, with great effect

“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.”

UFC 207 will go down on Dec. 30 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. No bouts have been made official for the card. A women’s bantamweight title fight between reigning champion Amanda Nunes and the returning Ronda Rousey will serve as the headliner.

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