UFC 200 rumors: Is Cain Velasquez vs. Travis Browne happening?
Cain Velasquez continues to recover from his back surgery but as early as now, it looks like the former champion is being wooed for a possible fight at UFC 200 against Travis Browne.
The planned card remains unofficial for now and the UFC has yet to confirm if the joust can be made. If so, it will be the first fight for the 33-year-old injury-prone Velasquez since losing to champion Fabricio Werdum at UFC 188 in June, 2015.
A Werdum vs. Velasquez rematch was originally scheduled to take place until the former champion withdrew due to a back injury. He eventually had to undergo surgery to remove bone spurs which were affecting his sciatic nerve.
Stipe Miocic was eventually picked to take Velasquez' place but Werdum withdrew as well due to an injury. Instead, Werdum will face Miocic this May at UFC 198.
As far as Velasquez is concerned, it will be interesting to see how he fares against Browne.
Cain Velasquez vs. Travis Browne in the works for UFC 200 (per @arielhelwani) https://t.co/xejAALJvvK
— UFC Tonight (@UFCTonight) March 17, 2016
Browne will be looking to follow up his triumph back in January against Matt Mitrione. A win over Velasquez could give Browne an opportunity at Werdum's title moving forward.
To date, no cards have been made official yet for UFC 200 though the event which takes place this July 9 at the T-Mobile Arena is expected to offer a slam-bang affair.
One of the other matches believed to be taking place would be the one involving Conor McGregor. Though it was initially believed that the Irishman would likely be defending his UFC featherweight title, it seems that a rematch with Nate Diaz has cropped up.
Diaz handed McGregor his first UFC loss at UFC 196 with a submission in the second round but it seems that such has not dampened the plans of McGregor as far as making a run in the lightweight class.
If a Diaz vs. McGregor rematch takes place, this means that Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar may have to wait a little bit longer for a shot at the UFC featherweight belt.