Vitor Belfort will finally get another crack at the UFC middleweight title when he fights Chris Weidman at UFC 181.
Belfort's prior scheduled bout with Weidman fell through after Belfort failed a drug test for elevated testosterone levels which he claimed was a result of a recent injection of testosterone as part of his testosterone replacement therapy.
Nevada is no longer granting exemptions for TRT use, so Belfort has had to adjust to life with low testosterone.
He told the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani that he expects it to have no impact on him, and wasn't the secret to his success.
"I’m like an animal. TRT doesn’t give you spinning kicks, uppercuts. You can put TRT in your body," Belfort said. "Look all those guys that were on TRT, they didn’t have good performances. Why? That’s the question."
Belfort also stressed that he was not on "steroids" as people normally consider them, and that he had no "illegal substances" in his body. That part can be interpreted several different ways as TRT isn't "illegal" but use of it without an exemption granted (as was the case at the time he was tested) was banned in Nevada. So, technically he was using what amounted to a "banned substance" per commission rules.
As for the bout on December 6?
"I‘m fighting in another dimension. It’s not personal. It’s personal in the Octagon, but I just have to be better, how I can kick and how I can knee. I’m also improving, and that’s why I’m fighting in another dimension now."