The Nevada Athletic Commission continues to drug test Vitor Belfort randomly, despite the fact that his next fight is scheduled to take place in California.
According to NAC executive director Bob Bennett, the commission has already tested Belfort three times leading up to his UFC 184 middleweight title fight against Chris Weidman. Belfort has passed all three tests, and Bennett said the NAC plans on randomly testing Belfort again.
“Both him and his wife have been extremely cooperative, polite, professional and friendly throughout this process,” Bennett said. “They have been consummate pros to date.”
In October, MMAFighting.com reported that Nevada planned on handing over the Belfort drug-testing efforts once his fight against Weidman was moved to Feb. 28 in Los Angeles. However, shortly thereafter, it was reported that Nevada decided to randomly drug test Belfort after all.
In July, the Nevada Athletic Commission granted Vitor Belfort a license to fight in the state based on three conditions: he could not compete prior to December, his next fight had to be in Nevada, and he would cooperate when approached for random blood and urine testing no matter where he is.
“I’ll give you my definition of reasonable testing going forward from this commissioner’s perspective,” NAC commissioner Anthony Marnell told Belfort at the hearing, “we’re going to drug test you to the day you retire. That’s my definition of reasonable. We, in my opinion, should be in and around your career until the day you call it quits.”
Moments later, the UFC officially announced Belfort vs. Chris Weidman for the UFC middleweight title on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas. However, that fight had to be postponed on Sept. 22 due to a Weidman hand injury and was later rescheduled for Feb. 28 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Andy Foster, the California State Athletic Commission executive officer, said in October that he tentatively planned on testing Belfort three-to-five times randomly before the fight, as well as the night of the event. He told MMAFighting.com on Wednesday that he is working in unison with Nevada and sees no need to double up their efforts right now, so he’ll take over once Nevada decides it will no longer test Belfort before this fight. He will, at some point, start testing Belfort prior to UFC 184, as well.
“I’m not letting him get into a cage and fighting someone until I’m comfortable that he is fighting clean,” Foster said.
“I think Bob is doing an outstanding job with the testing.”
Foster added that California has tested Weidman once randomly, and he passed that test.