LAS VEGAS – UFC middlweight champion Chris Weidman can’t sugar-coat it: He’s nervous Vitor Belfort isn’t going to make it to their Feb. 28 date at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
In order to get his shot at the undefeated Weidman’s title, Belfort will have to pass random, unannounced drug tests. The first of these were administered by the Nevada Athletic Commission a couple weeks back, the results of which have yet to be revealed (Nevada is testing even though the bout is in California because the drug tests were a condition of his being re-licensed in the state).
“I’m worried about whether he’s going to get drug tested, then when I found out he did, I’m crapping my pants the past two weeks, hoping he’s still fighting me,” Weidman told reporters at Monday’s UFC media day. “That’s the guy I want to fight. That’s what the fight we’ve been talking about for a year now. That’s the fight I want. I’ll be disgusted if something happens.”
This fight, of course, has been on-again, off-again for the better part of a year, in large part due to Belfort’s issues with testosterone replacement therapy and drug testing.
“When it was first lined up, I had a feeling it wasn’t going to happen,” Weidman said. “I had a feeling something bad would happen. It was around the time of the whole TRT thing. I never really got too excited about the fight. Then after the [Lyoto] Machida fight, I started thinking about him again.”
When asked about whether Belfort’s PED and testing issues will be the biggest part of his legacy, Weidman wouldn’t come right out and say it, but strongly implied to read between the lines.
“I don’t want to take everything away he’s ever accomplished,” Weidman said. “But if you look at him in some of his fights, it’s kind of crazy, what human being looks like that naturally? Go into your own logic and figure that out on your own. But I’m not going to be the guy who victimizes him and says he’s juicing, because I don’t really know, I wasn’t there with him getting tested or watching him getting injected. However, I think in the last couple fights where he got caught, and why was he in Brazil fighting, bigger than ever, there was some weird stuff going on in those three knockouts he had.”