The closer we progress down the timeline of 2014, it seems even more apparent that the UFC is generously borrowing story arcs from WWE. Let’s look at the past 24 hours for some deeper explanation, if that’s even possible at this point.
Earlier today the Nevada State Athletic Commission holds a meeting, at the end of their agenda is the topic of TRT. Out of virtually nowhere, the NSAC decides to ban all TRT use regardless of previous exemptions. Within hours the UFC issues a press release (in all caps) stating they support the NSAC’s ruling on TRT and they intend to honor the ruling when the promotion serves as governing bodies in international markets. In short, that means TRT will not be accepted in Brazil, Canada, and wherever TRT-injected opponents go to do their cheating.
Just moments ago the UFC stated they had something to announce on FOX Sports 1, and it was so predictable that I nearly convulsed on my sofa in laughter. Vitor Belfort is now out of his UFC 173 fight against Chris Weidman and has been replaced by Lyoto Machida. That, my friends, is moment when the UFC jumped the shark.
The entire charade is tiresome. MMA fans believing their sport is an illustrious pillar of purity, only to realize that it’s shaped from the same mold as every other nefarious organization built on deception.
TRT has always been a form of cheating. That’s what we realized tonight. It’s silly to think otherwise. Sure everyone sort of justified it when it was announced a few years ago that Chael Sonnen had to undergo testosterone replacement therapy. He was sort of the flagship for this entire movement. Since then the sport got sloppy, and it got sloppy really quick. Guys were guzzling TRT like soccer moms drink coconut water, and all of MMA understood that this loophole would be exploited as often as possible. Of course no other person in UFC exemplified this than Vitor Belfort.
Whenever someone goes from a fit 19-year-old to a muscle-laden 36-year-old that has an obsession with talking about lions and dinosaurs, there’s something chemically haywire — and it’s not just a midlife crisis.
I’m sure you can infer a number of things from Vitor Belfort pulling out of UFC 173 with absolutely no reason. You know the reason, we know the reason — but if you ask Belfort, I’m sure he’ll say it’s all ‘God’s will.’
