Vitor Belfort asked for an interim title when an injury forced Chris Weidman out of a UFC middleweight title fight with “The Phenom” on Dec. 6, but the UFC decided to push the pairing back to Feb. 28. When Weidman pulled out with another injury, Belfort once again asked for an interim title, but later changed his mind.
On his Facebook page Sunday, Belfort explained why he turned down an offer from the UFC to face Lyoto Machida for the interim title, claiming he wouldn’t fight anyone but Weidman unless they stripped “All American” of the title and gave him eight weeks to train.
“My focus was always the middleweight belt and I climbed the ladder to achieve my position,” Belfort wrote. “This is why I won’t fight for an interim, but if UFC gives 8 weeks and the middleweight belt available for dispute I fight with anyone from the ranking. Not for an interim, but the middleweight belt!”
However, it looks like he was initially willing to fight Yoel Romero for an interim title at UFC 184.
“Vitor Belfort didn’t close the deal I was expecting when I asked Romero for the interim, so we decided to wait for Weidman in May,” Belfort’s wife and manager Joana Prado posted on her Instagram on Monday. “It is what it is. I know we will come back stronger than ever, even when the situations are bad!”
On the same post, Prado revealed that a storm destroyed their gym in Rio de Janeiro.
“This is how God does!!! We make a lot of plans to build our companies with principles and honest and suddenly everything changes! My gym Fortfit with 400 members was destroyed by the storm last weekend,” she wrote. “We have faced bad news before and with God we can handle all this! Looking forward to rebuilding Fortfit and seeing Vitor Belfort making history and fighting for the belt against Weidman in May. God is in control!”