Cain injures knee, Hunt-Werdum to meet for interim belt

Published on Tuesday, 10/21/14, at 8:47 p.m. Eastern. 
Updated on Wednesday, 10/22/14, at 5:12 p.m. Eastern.

UPDATE: Bovada opened Werdum as a -230 favorite on Wednesday afternoon. The book quickly moved the number to -260 in less than an hour, leaving Hunt at +200 on the comeback (risk $100 to win $200). Also on Wednesday, Hunt revealed that he weighed 302 pounds when he got the phone call on Tuesday, so the 40-year-old former K1 champ will need to lose 37 pounds. We should point out, however, that Hunt (5-2-1 UFC record) lost 18 pounds in the 24 hours leading up to his September win over Roy Nelson via second-round KO. 

Cain Velasquez blew out his knee and won’t be able to defend his heavyweight strap against Fabricio Werdum at UFC 180 in Mexico City. Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports was the first to report this breaking news.

With Velasquez apparently out of action for an indefinite period of time, Mark Hunt will now face Werdum in the UFC 180 main event for the interim belt.

The UFC has confirmed the injury and sent out this press release.

“I’m so unbelievably disappointed that this happened,” Velasquez said. “To say I was looking forward to fighting in Mexico for the first time is an understatement. I wanted to fight on that card so bad. Looks like it wasn’t meant to be and it’s not going to happen. I’m going to get my [right] knee fixed and get back to training as soon as I can. I’m sorry to the fans in Mexico who were expecting this fight, and I hope to be able to come down and still be a part of this historic event.”

In other UFC news today, middleweight Cung Le had his one-year suspension for HGH rescinded by the promotion. Le lost his main-battle when he was knocked out by perennial 185-pound contender Michael Bisping.

Also, featherweights Conor McGregor and Chad Mendes had a heated and entertaining exchange, with ‘The Notorious’ promising to deal out teabag treatment to Mendes.