UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman has a reputation as a cool customer, someone who can let just about anything roll off his back.
But Vitor Belfort has proven that someone can, in fact, succeed in pushing his buttons.
In a recent interview with Combate, Belfort took shots at Weidman, who had to pull out of their Dec. 6 fight date in Las Vegas due to a broken hand.
Apprised of the comments, which were translated from Portuguese, Weidman didn’t hold back, saying he’ll have something special for the former UFC light heavyweight champion when the two finally meet in a bout expected to take place early next year.
“I’m going to have a lot of fun,” Weidman said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I’m going in there to embarrass him. This is not going to be a close fight, this is going to be a completely, I’m going to embarrass him in that cage. I’m going to make him look like an old man who withered away.”
Belfort accused Weidman of wanting ‘to keep his belt over Christmas,” of pulling out of fight dates, and suggested the UFC create an interim title. In counter, Weidman said that Belfort hasn’t fought since last year, and that it was Belfort who pulled out of their first scheduled date after Belfort flunked a drug test.
“This is a guy who, I just fought in July,” Weidman said. “It doesn’t make any sense, it’s not like I’ve been out for a year. This guy hasn’t fought since November. And I was actually, we were supposed to fight. We were lined up to fight in July. And he had to pull out of the fight. And you know why he had to pull out of the fight? He failed a drug test. So this guy is failing drug tests and he has the audacity, he has the balls to start talking junk? About me not fighting. He hasn’t fought since November. So what if he gets the belt? So what happens with that? He just makes no sense. That’s the bottom line.”
The undefeated champion from Long Island then went on to detail what he plans on doing to Belfort once the cage door finally shuts on the duo.
“I want to completely toy with him,” Weidman said. “I want to toy with him. I want to beat him up standing, I want to toss him on his butt. Smack him in his mouth a couple times while he’s on the ground. Maybe go for a submission, make him almost tap, and let go of it, let him stand up, beat him up on the feet, take him down again, just completely just make a mockery of him.”