...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
"We want to make that fight happen. That's the next fight. That fight should've already happened before the Machida. That's the fight we want to do and that's the fight that Chris Weidman wants. I love this kid calling out Vitor. The champ wants to fight Vitor Belfort, man. I don't blame him, I would too... It doesn't have to take place in Nevada. That fight would be big in Brazil, too. I would do it Brazil. As long as the commission clears him, yeah. We'd want the okay from Nevada, and if Nevada was cool with it, I'd do it in Brazil."
-Dana White talked about a Chris Weidman-Vitor Belfort title bout and why it could happen in Brazil in a media scrum after the UFC Fight Night 46 weigh-ins (transcribed by MMAFighting.com).
Penick's Analysis: It would be an absolutely ridiculous move to book Weidman-Belfort in Brazil, and until Belfort faces some type of consequence for failing a random drug test, the UFC's continued push for him just seems massively off. It wouldn't be right for Weidman to have to go down to Brazil for Belfort, not when Belfort hasn't proven he can even test clean in the states. That failed drug test from February puts nothing but question marks on his fights in Brazil last year and how adequately he was actually being tested by Brazil's commission and/or the UFC. He needs to be fighting somewhere where he will be tested randomly in a transparent process, and right now that's Nevada. This could all be moot if he gets denied a license on Wednesday as seems a likely outcome of his meeting with the NAC, but even if they grant him one, the fight with Weidman should take place there in Nevada, not Brazil.
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
