Vitor Belfort has 'saved many events,' feels no regret for turning down interim title fights at UFC 184

Vitor Belfort and his team knew fans and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) brass would not be pleased once it was revealed "The Phenom" turned down interim title fights at UFC 184 against Lyoto Machida and Gegard Mousasi, but in the Brazilian's eyes, UFC champ Chris Weidman's injury was not his fault.

Even though the Los Angeles pay-per-view (PPV) event lost the scheduled main event tilt between Weidman and Belfort, UFC 184 provided a historic night for women's mixed martial arts (MMA), and "The Phenom" and "The All American" have a new fight date as the co-main event of the stacked UFC 187.

It seems in the end that all parties won, and Belfort holds no regrets about opting to wait to fight Weidman in May as opposed to taking on a different opponent on short notice in February.

His words to MMA Fighting:

"The way I see it is from my lens -- the lens of truth -- when something goes wrong, it's not me that makes decisions. It's not my fault if the [fight] got canceled. It's not because I got an injury, it's because Chris Weidman got an injury. People think, 'Oh, Vitor is gonna step up.' But my trainer said, 'No, we're gonna wait.' They offered him one fight. It's business, it's dealing. In business, sometimes it doesn't go the way you think. It's nothing personal."

"I'm the type of fighter, the way I please Dana is with my attitude. I always step up. I'm the guy who has saved many events. I've been doing this for a long time."

Intriguing points from the No. 1 contender.

Barring any more last second injuries, the two top middleweights in the world will finally slug it out on May 23, 2015 on (PPV) live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For the latest fight card, news, and rumors surrounding UFC 187 click here.