With his thrilling unanimous decision win over Lyoto Machida at the UFC 175 pay-per-view (PPV) event last Saturday night (July 5, 2014) at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada (watch it again here), middleweight champion Chris Weidman will move on to the next challenger in the crowded 185-pound division.
Assuming he can get pardoned by Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), that challenger will be Vitor Belfort.
Weidman will fight "The Phenom" any day of the week, according to his coach Ray Longo. But if pen does in fact get put to paper, the man behind "the man" is expecting Belfort to man up, play by the rules, and stop lying to everyone in front of his kids.
From his post-fight conversation with MMA Fighting:
"I think the world got to see what a tough S.O.B. [Weidman] is. I'm gonna say this [about Vitor]: Play by the rules, man up, don't be a liar. What do we stand for? You got kids, you're lying to everybody? Just play by the rules and Weidman will fight him any day of the week."
Or any month of the year.
These two were expected to hook 'em up in the main event of UFC 173 back in May; however, Belfort failed a pre-fight drug test (more on that here) and was benched indefinitely. Not only does the Brazilian have to rid his body of testosterone in order to return (thanks to this), he must also convince the commission he's playing by the rules.
Think about the children!