Elite mixed martial arts training camp American Kickboxing Academy has been the target of criticism in the past few years due to a rather high injury rate. UFC President Dana White has been quoted saying that they train like a “stone age gym”, and fight delays due to injuries from Khabib Nurmagomdedov, Luke Rockhold, Cain Velasquez, and Daniel Cormier are getting increasingly difficult to ignore.
This is a physical contact sport where the only way to train for a fight is to fight, however. Other gyms may have lower injury rates, but the fact remains that AKA almost had two of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s grand prizes on display in their gym.
Nurmagomdedov pulling out of this weekend’s co-main event bout with Tony Ferguson raised the question of just how many times have AKA’s elite fighters pulled out of a contest under the UFC banner? Check out the answer below:
Khabib Nurmagomdedov
1. Missed weight at “UFC 160” against Abel Trujillo, weighing in at 158.5 pounds. Rather than cut the additional weight, he chose to simply forfeit a percentage of his purse to Turjillo.
2. Forced out of “UFC 178” against Donald Cerrone due to a knee injury.
3. Forced out of “UFC 187” against Donald Cerrone due to a knee injury.
4. Forced out of “TUF 22 Finale” against Tony Ferguson due to an undisclosed injury.
5. Forced out of “UFC 209” against Tony Ferguson after falling ill on eve of weigh-ins due to weight cut complications.
Luke Rockhold
1. Forced out of “UFC 166” against Tim Boetsch due to an injury.
2. Forced out of “UFC Fight Night 101” against Ronaldo Souza due to an undisclosed injury.
Cain Velasquez
1. Forced out of “UFC 180” against Fabricio Werdum citing a sprained MCL in his right knee.
2. Forced out of “UFC Fight Night 82” against Fabricio Werdum, but both fighters would ultimately pull out.
3. Forced out of “UFC 196” against Fabricio Werdum due to an injured back.
4. Forced out of “UFC 207” against Fabricio Werdum after NSAC did not clear him to fight.
Daniel Cormier
1. Forced out of “UFC 197” against Jon Jones due to a foot injury.
2. Forced out of “UFC 206” against Anthony Johnson due to an injury.
