Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping still has nothing nice to say about Vitor Belfort.
The pair fought 10 years ago on January 2013 in a contest that saw Belfort come out on top following a head kick knockout. That head kick would change Bisping's life forever as it resulted in a detached retina and the Briton's loss of his eye.
But what was most notable about the fight was that it was during the period where it was no real secret that the Brazilian was using performance enhancing drugs while there was also no USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency).
And Bisping — who is not afraid to say what he thinks — has held a strong grudge against Belfort ever since.
“This guy is everyone’s favorite bible-basher, everyone’s favorite hypocrite, everyone’s favorite lecturer,” Bisping recently said on his YouTube channel (via MMA Fighting). “The guy’s such a bloody piece of s**t it blows my mind, and he cost me to lose an eye. Yes, that’s right. I’m talking about Vitor ‘The Phenom Hypocrite’ Belfort. The former light heavyweight champion, the former heavyweight champion, the former middleweight contender, and the biggest known drug cheat in the history of the sport — alongside Wanderlei Silva.
“This guy is the biggest cheat in the history of combat sports. It’s all to do with the steroids mainly. Listen, we’re not putting a ball in a basket, we’re not trying to kick a ball into the back of the net, we’re trying to knock our opponents unconscious. If you’re knowingly taking steroids all the time then I’ve got no respect for you whatsoever. You’re not respecting the sport, you’re not respecting yourself, you’re not respecting your opponent. It’s dangerous, disgusting, and I’ve just got no respect for it whatsoever.”
Despite the loss of his eye, Bisping upset the odds and managed to become a UFC champion at the age of 38 when he defeated Luke Rockhold in 2016. He would continue fighting until his retirement in 2017.
And while he knew the risks of fighting Belfort and the head kick was not an illegal move, Bisping believes the excess testosterone the former UFC light heavyweight champion had contributed to the force that resulted in his eye problems.
“He was taking so many steroids [when I fought him] that his ass probably glowed in the dark. It is what it is,” he continued. “I went down there to Brazil to fight the guy, I knew he was on steroids, but the fighter inside me, I still thought that I could beat him. That’s the arrogance that we have.
“I paid the ultimate price because I ended up losing an eyeball because of the head kick that he hit me with. Granted, a legal technique, but still, the force, I don’t think it would have been the same had he not been taking all that testosterone.”
Belfort departed the UFC in 2018 and has entered the world of boxing since — seemingly without any major drug testing.
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