A major turn of events and we have a new UFC 173 main event. Chris Weidman will now defend his Middleweight championship against Lyoto Machida as Vitor Belfort has pulled out of the fight.
Earlier today, the Nevada State Athletic Commission announced its ban of Therapeutic Testosterone Replacement Therapy for all upcoming fights. Notable among TRT users is former Middleweight contender, Vitor Belfort. He said that because of the altered policy he will drop his TRT program and continue fighting without it, however because of time restraints that he cannot compete by May. Many have speculated that his pull-out may delve farther into UFC politics than we see but for now, we have Weidman vs. Machida at UFC 173, coming May 24th in Las Vegas.
Weidman, coming off of two back to back wins over the legendary Anderson Silva, will look to continue his undefeated streak when he squares off against middleweight newcomer, Lyoto Machida. Machida, who has gone 3-0 in his new weight at 185, defeated Gegard Mousasi earlier this month will look to secure UFC gold once again and add to his streak at Middleweight.
On the other hand, we have to wonder what this does to Vitor Belfort who is on a huge knockout streak with wins over Michael Bisping, Luke Rockhold, and Dan Henderson. He seems to be on a surge as of late since his lost to Anderson Silva back at UFC 126, we have all seen a rejuvenated and much more physical specimen of Belfort. Also, being the center of TRT debate, many have wondered about his legitimacy in his performance based on his advocacy of TRT, and of course Vitor from 2011 and Vitor now are two completely different fighters from a physical standpoint. Although surrounded in criticism and questions, he still remains one of the biggest fan favorites out there and we hope to see him return to the Octagon soon to continue delivering explosive fights.
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