When it first emerged that a fighter had failed a drugs test after ‘UFC On FX 7’ in Brazil last month it was first rumored that it was Vitor Belfort, but it’s since emerged that the man in question was Thiago Tavares.
The reason that Belfort was initially implicated was that he appeared to be in remarkable shape for his age and had given a strangely evasive answer pre-fight when asked by ESPN for his thoughts on fighters using Testosterone Replacement Therapy.
“If a question is private, I have the choice to answer or not,” Belfort replied. “If I make it public, it’s not private anymore. If I want to say something private I will say it, but I keep to myself and I respect the laws of the sport. Whatever the organization, whatever the law — they know what to do. This is too controversial, why am I going to say something that doesn’t accomplish anything? If it’s legal, they know what to do. If it’s legal, there’s nothing to say about it. It’s legal.”
Clearly it wasn’t a topic Belfort was comfortable discussing, but nonetheless it has now emerged that he did in fact request a ‘Therapeutic Use Exemption’ for Testosterone Replacement Therapy prior to his headline fight with Michael Bisping at UFC On FX 7 and was officially cleared to do so.
Belfort joins the likes of Chael Sonnen, Dan Henderson, Forrest Griffin and Frank Mir to name but a few who have also gone down this controversial, but currently legal route in recent times.
