UFC middleweight contender Vitor Belfort scored his second consecutive headkick knockout this weekend at UFC on FX 8, taking out former Strikeforce titleholder Luke Rockhold.
Prior to that, “The Phenom” stopped perennial contender Michael Bisping at UFC on FX 7 in January.
So why is the Brazilian getting overwhelmingly bad press?
During the UFC on FX 8 post-fight press conference, MMA Junkie’s John Morgan decided to make the first move about bringing up Belfort’s testosterone replacement therapy usage.
Belfort was less than thrilled with the line of questioning, as Morgan explained to his followers on Twitter:
Well, it’s safe to say Vitor does not want to talk about testosterone. I was shushed for bringing it up. Sorry. I tried.
— John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) May 19, 2013
As a matter of fact, the former UFC light heavyweight champ called for someone to beat up Morgan for his persistence:
Belfort asked someone 2 beat @mmajunkiejohn for asking about TRT. Rockhold says TRT doesn’t teach 2 kick. Belfort refuses to answer Johns Qs
— Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) May 19, 2013
As controversy continues to swirl around this hot button issue, Belfort decided to apologize for the way he handled the situation via TwitLonger, a social media platform that allows Twitter users to write a message that goes beyond 140 characters:
To all my fans and to all the reporters that was there on the after press conference I would like to ask for forgiveness the way I answer about TRT I RECOGNIZE THAT I ANWSER IN A IMMATURE WAY BUT WAS THE 10 th time that that reporter ask the same question. No excuse!! I made a WORNG call and I am here to ask for forgiveness God bless all you guys love to do what I do and I am keeping moving UP SEEKING GROW AS A MEN OF GOD AND AS A FIGHTER ‘DONT DOUT ME I WILL PROUVE U WORNG’ PEACE
Morgan took the apology in stride, noting that he never had any intention of putting the 36-year-old on the hot seat.
I appreciate @vitorbelfort‘s acknowledge of incident and don’t hold any ill feelings toward him. We’ve all said something we later regret.
— John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) May 21, 2013
My goal was not to ask @vitorbelfort about legality of TRT, why he’s on it, etc., but to hear about how he handles fan backlash and critics.
— John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) May 21, 2013
While many notable fighters including Chael Sonnen, Frank Mir, Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt have all received TRT exemptions in the past, Belfort receives the majority of TRT-related criticism.
Perhaps the reason being is that Belfort failed a post-fight drug test for steroids in 2006 and steroid abuse is a known reason why the body does not produce enough testosterone naturally later in life (via MMA Weekly).
Additionally, Belfort has not competed on American soil since knocking out Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133 in August 2011.
Each of his four contests since then have taken place in either Brazil or Canada and Belfort has never confirmed when he began using TRT.
This is all relevant information since Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer told Bleacher Report in March that he couldn’t see Belfort getting a TRT exemption in the United States.
With all that information in mind, is it a legitimate possibility that Belfort competes for UFC gold one more time before he calls it a career?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com and contributes MMA videos to The Young Turks Sports Show.
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