The December 6th UFC 181 has a main event, as Brazilian Vitor Belfort will face Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman for his title in Las Vegas. The announcement came as a bit of a surprise, as the Nevada State Athletic Commission approved Belfort’s license despite a myriad of questions involving Belfort’s past PED use.
And the UFC should be ashamed, after publicly appearing to take a harsh stance against the use of PEDs and for testing, the UFC is now electing to use Belfort where as he was recently on his way out and a pariah. Belfort is a draw, and the fact is that the PED issue will make this match an even bigger draw and success on the financial end, which is what the UFC wants.
Should all the potential hurdles be cleared and Belfort enter the cage with Weidman, Weidman will likely be a favorite in the match-up. Weidman is going to be pushed as the next big thing, and as a Brazilian legend killer with Belfort the next victim. Where his duo of bouts with Anderson Silva left some doubters, his outstanding performance against Lyoto Machida has shut a lot of mouths and opened a lot of eyes.
Belfort is a dangerous opponent in that he has matured in fights and keeps his confidence, and he still possesses fast, lethal hands that will take you out. Over the years he has added knees and kicks and he is overall an extremely dangerous MMA striker who has improved late into his career. Until now.
The fact is, that a lot of his late in career confidence and also his string of good performances were all aided by his use of TRT, which he lauded quite publicly. He even chirped in that without TRT he could ‘die’, taking a page out of the script of Chael Sonnen. Like the late career resurgence of Barry Bonds in the world of baseball, there will always be a question of what role the PEDs played in that success for Belfort.
The UFC is playing a dangerous game, in that Belfort could wind up being a title holder. And that might be bad for business in the long run.
