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Velasquez, who is regarded by many as the greatest heavyweight of all time, hasn’t set foot inside the Octagon in well over a year.

The California native’s last outing took place at UFC 200 in July 2016 and saw him register an emphatic first round TKO victory over Travis Browne.

The former UFC heavyweight champion was due to take on Fabricio Werdum at UFC 207 in December in a bout which provided him with the opportunity to avenge the second loss of his mixed martial arts career.

However, the contest failed to come to fruition as the Nevada Athletic Commission refused to license Velasquez after discovering he intended to undergo surgery on a niggling back injury shortly after rematching Werdum.

Velasquez underwent surgery in early January to alleviate the pressure on his sciatic nerve issue, which was the result of bone spurs.

Eight months removed from the corrective procedure and 35-year-old Velasquez, 14-2, is still sitting on the sidelines.

According to his head coach, American Kickboxing Academy’s Javier Mendez, Velasquez’s hiatus has been prolonged because the surgery didn't go to plan.

“The surgery has not gone the way it was supposed to have gone. So, we'll see with time,” Mendez told Starsport. “But Cain has been spending time with his family and doing other things. He comes in here once in a while.

“He's not back training yet. But he didn't pull out, the fight was pulled from him from the state athletic commission.”

Velasquez was bitterly disappointed to have been forced out of his second encounter with Werdum, as was Mendez, who is adamant the Arizona State University alumni wasn’t in danger of further aggravating his injury.

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“He was ready to fight Fabricio, he was 100-percent ready to go and 100-percent able to do it without any further injury,” he said. “But the state athletic commission chose to not risk it as they're known for not taking risks.

“Because if there's that one-percent chance of injury, they're not going to risk it. So that's what happened there. That was an unfortunate situation.

“But Cain was ready to fight, prepared to fight, in shape to fight, sparring 100-percent the way he needed to fight.”

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Despite his latest injury setback, Mendez is adamant Velasquez is still hungry as ever.

"He's not lost the desire to fight, he's just waiting for some time, spending time with the family and doing other things he loves,” Mendez continued.

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“He loves doing acting, movies and all that type of stuff. So anything involving the film industry, he loves that stuff. And anything in the car industry he loves.

“But the number one thing is his family. So those are the things he's focused on now.

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"When his body is 100-percent healthy and his mind will be intact with that healthiness, then he'll be ready to fight.”