5 of the longest spells of inactivity from a UFC champion

#2 Cain Velasquez – 1 year and 8 months

Cain Velasquez has been blighted with injuries throughout his career

Perhaps the most injury-cursed UFC champion of all time, Cain Velasquez first captured the Heavyweight title in October 2010 with a win over Brock Lesnar. He was then sidelined with a torn shoulder labrum for a year and one month, almost making this list in that instance.

Upon his return he was knocked out by Junior Dos Santos and lost his title, but returned to re-capture the gold from the Brazilian in December 2012.

Two defences followed in 2013, but rather than injury, the other major cause of long championship layoffs reared its head – The Ultimate Fighter.

In April 2014 it was announced that Velasquez and #1 contender Fabricio Werdum would be coaching the first season of TUF: Latin America and so their title fight would be pushed back to November’s UFC 180 in Mexico City. A month before the scheduled fight, though, Velasquez was forced out with a torn meniscus and MCL.

With Cain on the shelf, Werdum defeated Mark Hunt at the event to win the Interim title, but nobody expected the return of the original champion to take so long.

It would be another eight months before Velasquez returned at June 2015’s UFC 188 – giving him a total time on the sidelines of 1 year and 8 months. He lost his title to Werdum in the unification match and due to further injuries, he’s only fought once since.