NAC causes stir with decision to remove Cain Velasquez from UFC 207

Cain Velasquez, right, stands over Travis Browne after a technical knockout win in the heavyweight bout during UFC 200 at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, July 9, 2016, in Las Vegas. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow @Erik_Verduzco

Cain Velasquez, left, raises his arm in victory against Travis Browne in the heavyweight bout during UFC 200 at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, July 9, 2016, in Las Vegas. Velasquez won by technical knockout. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow @Erik_Verduzco

Cain Velasquez celebrates his win against Travis Browne in the heavyweight bout during UFC 200 at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, July 9, 2016, in Las Vegas. Velasquez won by technical knockout. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow @Erik_Verduzco

Cain Velasquez, right, connects a right punch against Travis Browne in the heavyweight bout during UFC 200 at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, July 9, 2016, in Las Vegas. Velasquez won by technical knockout. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow @Erik_Verduzco

Cain Velasquez, left, connects a right kick against Travis Browne in the heavyweight bout during UFC 200 at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, July 9, 2016, in Las Vegas. Velasquez won by technical knockout. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow @Erik_Verduzco

Mixed martial arts fans received a lump of coal in their collective stockings when the Nevada Athletic Commission made a Christmas Eve decision to remove former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez from UFC 207.

The decision to declare Velasquez medically unfit to compete in a rematch against Fabricio Werdum on Friday at T-Mobile Arena wasn’t devoid of controversy.

After the news hit social media Saturday, Velasquez posted on Twitter he was unaware of any change to the status of his fight and was still training as if he would compete.

That changed later in the evening when the UFC released a statement confirming the fight was off the card.

NAC executive director Bob Bennett said the commission acted in the best interest of the fighter’s safety in exercising its authority to not grant Velasquez a license to compete based not only on his statements last week in an ESPN story about a lingering back injury but also a variety of factors that included a conversation with Velasquez.

“Based on medical records, interviews and the best judgment of chairman Anthony Marnell, attorney general J. Brin Gibson, the executive director’s office and our physicians, in an effort to protect the health and safety of the athletes, it’s been determined Cain Velasquez is unfit to fight,” a NAC statement read.

“The financial incentive for fighters to compete is strongly compelling, and it is the responsibility and obligation of this commission to intervene when excessive risks are evident. It’s obvious Mr. Velasquez is physically compromised, and competing would place him in significant physical risk.”

UFC 207 will proceed with 10 fights, according to the statement from the UFC, meaning no replacement opponent will be sought for Werdum.

Velasquez told ESPN.com last week he had scheduled back surgery for the week after the fight and was managing the pain with prescription Cannabidiol.

He still planned to proceed with the fight, however, and was training when he said he learned through social media that he would be pulled from the card.

Velasquez said he was again cleared by his doctor Saturday afternoon and that his doctor had told the commission in a phone call that Velasquez could fight.

One of his training partners, UFC heavyweight Todd Duffee, was surprised by the news after seeing the former champion in the gym Friday.

“If Cain is ‘unfit to fight,’ then the whole ufc roster is unfit to fight,” Duffee posted on Twitter. “I trained with him yesterday.”

The heavyweight rematch was supposed to take place on the main card, an event headlined by a women’s bantamweight title bout between champion Amanda Nunes and former champ Ronda Rousey.

UFC 207 also features a bantamweight title bout between undefeated phenom Cody Garbrandt and champion Dominick Cruz.

A welterweight bout between Tarec Saffiedine and Dong Hyun Kim has been promoted to the main pay-per-view card to replace Velasquez-Werdum.

SOUND OF SILENCE

There has been a great deal of speculation about what Rousey would say about her comeback when she finally stepped in front of the cameras again during fight week.

Rousey had been one of the most fascinating and accessible interview subjects in the sport as she rose to stardom before a stunning knockout loss to Holly Holm in November 2015.

But she has disappeared into relative seclusion in the past year outside of a few appearances on national talk shows, a hosting gig on “Saturday Night Live” and two interviews with ESPN.

Now, she plans on letting her performance do her talking.

The official fight-week media rundown was released by the organization Friday, with Rousey and Nunes conspicuously absent from Wednesday’s media day schedule, the only time fighters are available to reporters this week.

Rousey’s decision to not do fight-week media to promote a main event bout is essentially unprecedented in the UFC. Conor McGregor refused to fly to Las Vegas for a promotional news conference this year and was removed from UFC 200 by UFC president Dana White, but that was several months before his fight and the organization also had employed a film crew to shoot a commercial in which McGregor then couldn’t appear.

Rousey’s only prefight appearance in Las Vegas this week will be at Friday’s weigh-ins, which are open to the public at 3 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.