Cain Velasquez | Daniel Herbertson/Sherdog.com
UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, less than a week after undergoing surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff, appears to be satisfied with the procedure and the progress he has made since.
“Surgery went well. Back at Joe Grasso’s lifting legs. Best place to train,” a post from Velasquez’s Twitter account read on Monday.
Grasso runs the Elite Fitness gym in San Jose, Calif., close to where Velasquez trains full-time at the American Kickboxing Academy. The 28-year-old champion has not competed since he smashed through Brock Lesnar in the UFC 121 main event in October at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Velasquez, who was expected to defend his crown against Junior dos Santos sometime in early 2011, underwent surgery to repair his damaged shoulder on Jan. 13 and figures to miss a sizeable chunk of the calendar year while he mends.
Dos Santos will coach opposite Lesnar on Season 13 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series, leading to a title eliminator between the two at UFC 131 in June.
Velasquez has finished eight of his first nine foes, six of them inside one round. A junior college national champion, he was a two-time All-American wrestler at Arizona State University. Victories against former Pride Fighting Championships heavyweight titleholder Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, French kickboxer Cheick Kongo and former International Fight League standout Ben Rothwell anchor his resume.