Cain Velasquez is once again ready for a UFC comeback attempt.
The former heavyweight champion is scheduled to face knockout artist Francis Ngannou in the main event of a Feb. 17 event at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, the UFC announced this week.
Velasquez (14-2) is considered by some to be the greatest heavyweight in mixed martial arts history but the American Kickboxing Academy product has been plagued by long-term injuries fought just twice in the past five years.
The 36-year-old made his UFC debut back in 2008 in just his third professional fight. He quickly climbed the rankings and in 2010 beat Brock Lesnar to win UFC gold for the first time. He lost to Junior dos Santos in his first title defence but avenged that loss to reclaim the belt one year later.
Velasquez sustained a knee injury in 2014 that required surgery and was out of action for nearly two full years. He was submitted by Fabricio Werdum at UFC 188 in the high Mexico City altitude. He bounced back 13 months later with a thrilling first-round victory over Travis Browne at UFC 200 that earned him a Performance of the Night bonus.
Following his win over Browne, Velasquez has been battling back issues that resulted in him going under the knife and for a time put his career in jeopardy. He was supposed to have a rematch with Werdum at UFC 207 but wasn’t granted a fight licence by the Nevada State Athletic Commission after he was deemed unfit to compete due to bone spurs in his back.
With Velasquez out of the picture, Ngannou emerged as a star and title contender in the division. The 32-year-old Cameroonian has fought seven times since Velasquez last competed, earning knockout wins over the likes of Alistair Overeem and former champion Andrei Arlovski.
Ngannou (14-2) lost a title fight to then-champ Stipe Miocic by unanimous decision in January and completely froze in a lacklustre unanimous decision loss to Derrick Lewis in his next outing in July. He rebounded nicely in November, however, with a 45-second technical knockout victory over Curtis Blades.
Here is a tentative look at the fight card to date:
— Francis Ngannou vs. Cain Velasquez
— Cortney Casey vs. Cynthia Calvillo
— Jimmie Rivera vs. Aljamain Sterling
— Alex Caceres vs. Kron Gracie
— James Vick vs. Paul Felder
— Andre Fili vs. Myles Jury
— Andrea Lee vs. Ashlee Evans-Smith
— Vicente Luque vs. Bryan Barberena
— Renan Barão vs. Luke Sanders
— Scott Holtzman vs. Nik Lentz
— Benito Lopez vs. Manny Bermudez
— Aleksandra Albu vs. Emily Whitmire
— Jessica Penne vs. Jodie Esquibel
[relatedlinks]
