UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman is known as the man who ended Anderson Silva's reign atop the pound-for-pound rankings. Now he will face another mixed martial arts legend in Vitor Belfort at UFC 181 in December, and the ever-confident Weidman doesn't mind if his opponent enters the octagon with an unfair advantage.
Belfort's problems with performance-enhancing drugs have long been documented due to his use of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). The Nevada Athletic Commission unanimously voted to ban TRT in February. That same month "The Phenom" was subject to a random drug test that revealed spiked testosterone levels. Belfort was granted a conditional license to fight by the NAC in June.
Weidman said it doesn't matter to him if Belfort is taking banned substances, he just doesn't want his opponent to get caught.
"Do I think that he's going to do something sneaky? I wouldn't be surprised, because he's gotten caught cheating now twice," Weidman said in a recent interview with Sherdog.com. "I wouldn't be surprised if he does something stupid again. My biggest concern is that he gets caught again. Even if he's taking something, I don't care. Just don't get caught doing it, because I want to fight him whether he's on something or not. That's the fight that I want, and he's the guy that I want to beat up."
Belfort is one of the top knockout artists in the UFC's middleweight division. But Weidman isn't concerned and thinks he can dictate the outcome of the fight.
"I pretty much feel like I can do anything that I want to do in there," he said. "I can stand and bang and knock him out, or I feel as if I can take him down and submit him. Nothing's going to come easily, and I always expect some resistance, but if someone had yelled out and told me that this is what I had to do, I am getting the job done, whether they told me to submit him or knock him out. I'm going to get it done."
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