The UFC apparently has a date (or two) in mind for the middleweight title fight between Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort.
Speaking with Fox Sports, UFC president Dana White said the promotion was looking to have Weidman and Belfort face off either July 4 or Memorial Day. Per Bloody Elbow:
Weidman’s pushing for it to be earlier because he wants to have a normal summer with his family. He hasn’t had a normal summer in a while so we’re going to try to accommodate that.
We’re looking at it might end up being July 4th, we’re still working on it. It could be Fourth of July. It could be (Memorial Day), it’s going to be one of those.
Obviously, this is still entirely speculative, and card dates are always subject to change. However, something worth noting is that neither July 4 nor Memorial Day falls on a Saturday. July 4 is on a Friday, while Memorial Day falls on Monday, May 26.
Weidman vs. Belfort is far and away the biggest fight that the UFC can put together at this time, making it a near-guaranteed pay-per-view headliner. If the UFC opts to have a pay-per-view event on a day other than Saturday, it could be the start of a new trend. Of course, it’s also completely possible that White may have simply meant it falls on those weekends, rather than those days.
Regardless, MMA fans and media are already in a tizzy over the upcoming bout.
Despite twice earning wins over the near-consensus greatest MMA fighter of all time Anderson Silva, Weidman is still desperately seeking respect and recognition. A win over the fearsome Belfort, an ever-improving veteran who has earned three knockouts in a row with his suddenly dynamic kicking game, would be no small feather in his cap.
Belfort, meanwhile, has fans throwing fits over his controversial use of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). TRT is used to boost a fighter’s testosterone if his body is producing lower-than-normal levels. Abusing steroids is a common cause for low testosterone, and Belfort was caught using anabolic steroids in 2006, which has led many to criticize the UFC for allowing Belfort to potentially use TRT to compensate for his prior use of steroids.
The UFC, they claim coincidentally, has had Belfort fighting exclusively in Brazil, where they sanction their own events and avoid the athletic commissions that stated they were unlikely to allow Belfort to continue freely injecting testosterone (a step also taken with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva). This fight, though, will allegedly go down in Las Vegas, making the TRT drama quite the epic for MMA fans.
Stick around with Bleacher Report for news on an official date when it hits, and in the meantime, feel free to check out our head-to-toe Breakdown on Weidman vs. Belfort right here.
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