Cain Velasquez prepared to set the pace at UFC 188
Many athletes will tell you that after a serious knee injury, like the type suffered by Cain Velasquez last year, it's harder to recover psychologically than it is physically. That is, even after a ligament is physically healed and stable, it can take a while for a fighter to once more trust that knee to do what they need it to do.
This was not the case for the UFC heavyweight champion. After rupturing an MCL, Velasquez was forced out of his scheduled UFC 180 heavyweight title defense against Fabricio Werdum last November.
Velasquez had already been out for a year with a previous injury when he injured his knee. So no one would have blamed the champ if he ended up a bit timid with his recovery.
Velasquez, a star wrester at Arizona State, tells FOX Sports that his doctors needed to rein him in, however. "I didn't have a problem trusting the knee when I started training again and using it. I wanted to get back in the gym," he says.
"Fighters want to get back in there as soon as they can so the challenge was doing the right thing, listening to the doctors and waiting until they said it was healed enough."
Another tough part of Velasquez's recovery and time out was simply making ends meet. The pain of healing injuries and frustration of not being able to compete were compounded by the stress of not bringing home any fight purses since October of 2013 for Velasquez.
"There are a lot of tough things about being out with injuries," he explains.
"The physical parts, the fact that you can't do what you love. But the financial part was definitely tough as well. You just have to try and do what you can to make some money while you're out. It's a challenge, and I'm definitely glad to be back fighting."
Velasquez will also have his deferred dream of fighting in his parents' homeland of Mexico finally realized this Saturday as the UFC returns to Mexico City for UFC 188. Cain's "Brown Pride" will no doubt swell as he walks to the Octagon with tens of thousands of Mexican fans cheering him on.
"It was hard watching Werdum and Hunt fight in Mexico last year when I couldn't," he admits.
"It's going to be great to fight in Mexico City in front of all those fans."
Velasquez expects to give those fans plenty of reason to rejoice after his bout, as well. Though he respects Werdum, Cain feels that the Brazilian simply will not be able to stand up to his aggressive style of fighting.
"Werdum is a great fighter, and is dangerous on the feet and on the ground, but I'm going to push him," he concludes.
"He won't be able to handle the pace I set and the pressure I put on him."
