Less than 24 hours after the announcement that the therapeutic use of TRT has been banned for athletes in the state of Nevada by the NSAC the UFC’s highest profiled user, Vitor Belfort, has dropped out of his title fight with champ Chris Weidman.
UFC officials revealed that Belfort “wilfully withdrew” from the scheduled fight and that Lyoto Machida will replace him. Belfort released the following statement; “The NSAC recently altered its policy and no longer will permit testosterone use exemptions, and will not permit a TRT programme. As other jurisdictions may follow suit, I am going to drop my TRT programme and compete in MMA without it. Given the time constraints involved between now and my proposed next bout in May, I have determined not to apply for a license to fight in Nevada at this time.”
Machida has won two fights at middleweight since dropping down. The former light-heavyweight champ KO’d Mark Munoz last year and beat Gegard Mousasi by unanimous decision earlier this year and it was said that he would have faced the winner of Belfort vs. Weidman.
Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida will take place at UFC 173 in Las Vegas, Nevada in May.
Alan’s Angle: I expected something like this to happen. I said yesterday that the TRT ban will effect that title fight. Belfort said he plans to quit TRT but that time won’t allow for him to compete in two months, time will tell on this one. I wonder if the UFC will book him into a fight in Nevada in the future because if they don’t they will suffer some backlash from fans, media and fighters alike who would see that move as cowardly and corrupted. I am happy with the new match-up and I think it is a much tougher fight for Weidman.
