Michael Bisping On Vitor Belfort: I Want To Kick Him In The Head
Many fans and fighters have different opinions on controversial Brazilian legend Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort, who finally returned from over a year long layoff to meet middleweight champion Chris Weidman at this past weekend’s (May 23, 2015) UFC 187. Belfort came out strong landing some brutal uppercuts and rocking the champion, but was eventually taken down and finished in the very first round; not a strong return for the ageing knockout artist.
With this being “The Phenom’s” first bout back since the ban of the highly controversial testosterone-replacement-therapy (TRT), some are saying that it’s time for Belfort to hang up the gloves and that he didn’t look the same without TRT.
One man who has spoken up on the Brazilian is one of Belfort’s former foes, notorious trash talker and fan-favorite Brit, Michael “The Count” Bisping. Bisping fell victim to Belfort when the two met in 2013, which was the beginning of Belfort’s reign of knockouts where he looked more deadly and muscular than ever before:
Speaking with MMAJunkie, “The Count” gave his view on Belfort’s UFC 187 performance, noting that the Brazilian looked like half the man he used to be, and that Belfort is unquestionably smaller now off of TRT:
“I looked at (Belfort), and he looks like half the man he used to be, quite literally,” Bisping (26-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) said during a teleconference. “His legs look like two little chicken legs dangling out of a female’s body, and he looked like, to be honest, my 14-year-old son could have beaten him up.”
Bisping even went as far to say that Weidman made “The Phenom” look like a coward:
“Chris Weidman made him look like the coward he is.”
Showing no sympathy towards a downed Belfort, Bisping stated that he would love revenge, and that the first bout was unfair, accusing Belfort of cheating. However, as much as the Brit would like to get his hands on the Brazilian, Bisping is only focused on his title hopes, which at age 36, could be on their last legs:
“Of course, I would like to avenge the loss on my record, but I’m not sure avenge is the correct word,” Bisping said when asked about a rematch with Belfort. “I mean, he was on TRT, so it was kind of an unfair advantage.
“I want to kick him in the head and punch him in the face, it’s as simple as that. Whatever way around will get it done is fine by me. But I’m focused on the title. Fighting Vitor isn’t something that’s going to help achieve that, but I would love to punch that guy in the face.”
Continuing on about UFC 187, Bisping described it as somewhat bittersweet. “The Count” was happy to see Weidman dish out a beat down, but Bisping would have loved to knock Belfort out himself:
“I enjoyed seeing it, but it was also bittersweet, because I would have loved the chance to have done that,” Bisping said
Most recently seen scoring a hard fought decision win over CB Dolloway at April’s UFC 186, No. 9-ranked Bisping is now set to headline UFC Fight Night 72 against No. 10-ranked Thales Leites on July 18, 2015.
Can the Brit continue his rise up the 185-pound rankings, and will he ever get a chance to get revenge on Belfort?
