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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Prior to weigh-ins for UFC events, they run a fan Q&A with a different member of their fight roster. On Friday, prior to UFC on Fox 12, it was top ten middleweight Luke Rockhold holding down the microphone, and Vitor Belfort was a topic broached by the fans.
Rockhold's been trying to get back to another fight with Belfort after losing by a spinning kick to the head in Brazil last year. As that fight came while Belfort was being questionably monitored by the Brazilian commission for TRT use under an exemption, Rockhold is wont to believe that Belfort was not fighting clean. He thinks Belfort's been fighting dirty for a very long time, and wants another crack under a jurisdiction which will test him at random.
That's what Belfort will face into his title fight with Chris Weidman in December at UFC 181, and Rockhold's not so sure he'll wind up making it there. Because of that, he's preparing to step in if needed come Dec. 6.
"My guess is something happens along the way," Rockhold said (transcribed by FoxSports.com). "Let's leave it at that. I'll be ready to go in December if anything."
Asked point blank if he felt Vitor Belfort would pass his first drug test or not, Rockhold simply said, "I'm skeptical."
Penick's Analysis: Absolutely everyone has reason to be skeptical of Vitor Belfort. What's going to be quite funny if it happens is Belfort failing a test and that fight getting canceled after commissioner Anthony Marnell commented that he didn't want the commission to get embarrassed in this situation. It was already too late for that, but it's setting up for all manner of shenanigans if and when Belfort tests positive for something. Now whether that's before the fight to actually cancel it, or after the fight, there's going to be a lot of head shaking and little surprise if it happens. If Belfort tests positive for anything within the next two or three months, Rockhold would be a definite option to throw in there against Weidman, and he'd be deserving of the spot as well. Now it's up to the commission to follow through on random tests, and on Belfort to pass those tests. If he enters Dec. 6 fully clean, we'll see what he's capable of doing on his own.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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