Ultimate Fighting Championship

UFC 207: Cain Velasquez Pulled From Event by NSAC

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 2:29 p.m. ET

Fansided, Danny Doherty/FanSided via Cage Pages

After a day of conflicting reports, it has been confirmed that the Nevada State Athletic Commission will not allow Cain Velasquez to fight at UFC 207.

The UFC released a statement on the situation here.

Cain Velasquez was preparing to take on Fabricio Werdum for the second time, this time with an ailing back issue that will require surgery in 2017. The former heavyweight champion was training normally and was cleared by doctors, but the Nevada State Athletic Commission declared him unfit to fight next Friday.

This may be in Velasquez’s best interest, though. He was quoted earlier this month claiming he cannot stand for 10 minutes straight without discomfort in his back. The Mexican-American was taking medical marijuana to deal with the pain, and already having a surgery scheduled for after the fight does not help his case either.

This is the third time a fight between Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez has fallen through, with Cain suffering injuries on the other two occasions.

The promotion has not announced a fight that will take the place of Velasquez-Werdum on the main card as of yet. Werdum will not face a replacement opponent either (Junior dos Santos tweeted that Werdum declined a short-notice bout between the two).

The main card also lost the presence of top-tier strawweight Jessica Andrade earlier this month, who was supposed to fight Maryna Moroz, then Angela Hill. Moroz pulled out for undisclosed reasons, then Angela Hill’s return bid was denied by USADA’s four-month policy for returning USADA-era fighters. Unsurprisingly, no strawweights stepped up on short notice to take on the vicious Brazilian.

UFC 207 has taken some hits, but the show must go on. This Friday inside the T-Mobile Arena of Las Vegas, Nevada, former women’s bantamweight queen Ronda Rousey will make her long-awaited return against the dangerous champion Amanda Nunes. Dominick Cruz will look to continue his dominance over Team Alpha Male in the co-main event against Cody Garbrandt.