Post by K1power on Oct 23, 2014 22:28:27 GMT 1
A middleweight title fight between champ Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort is likely headed to Los Angeles’ Staples Center on Feb. 28, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation today told MMAjunkie.
The UFC informed the California State Athletic Commission of the possible date, though the promotion has yet to submit a formal event request for what is likely to be UFC 184, according to CSAC Executive Director Andy Foster.
“I’ve heard a few things about this, but I’ve received absolutely nothing in writing,” he said.
After an initial postponement due to injury, the middleweights were expected to clash in Las Vegas sometime early in 2015, and Belfort agreed as a condition of his licensure that he wouldn’t fight anywhere else.
But according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the UFC couldn’t secure a venue for the proposed date and informed the commission it was moving the fight to California.
“It was negotiated and I think we worked it out that he’s going to be able to fight over there,” NSAC Executive Director Bob Bennett told MMAjunkie. “We had things ready to go (with Belfort), and then we had conversations with Andy ensuring that out-of-competition testing will take place.”
A Feb. 28 date in Los Angeles could mean yet another dual event day for the UFC. The promotion earlier this year announced plans for a return to London’s O2 Arena on Feb. 28. That event, if it goes forward, likely would stream in full on UFC Fight Pass in the States, while the UFC 184 event would air on pay-per-view, FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
MMAFighting.com first reported the event’s likely move and shift in drug testing, which comes after the NSAC’s strong assurances that Belfort would be thoroughly screened before fighting for the title.
Belfort, 37, was scratched from a proposed meeting with Weidman in May at UFC 173 when the NSAC banned testosterone-replacement therapy, which he had been approved to use in three previous fights before the commission reversed course and disallowed fighters from gaining therapeutic-use exemptions to use the controversial treatment.
The former champion failed a random NSAC drug test in February and later released test results that showed his testosterone was over the normal limit. Of course, at the time, he was still undergoing TRT treatments.
At a NSAC meeting in July, a sometimes emotional Belfort pleaded with the commission for a license. The commission, in turn, made the fighter agree not to fight anywhere else before December and submit to any random drug test – at his own expense – ordered by the commission prior to his fight with Weidman.
“I don’t want to be embarrassed, and I know the commission doesn’t either,” commissioner Anthony Marnell III said.
Despite the commission’s stance, NSAC’s Bennett said Belfort hadn’t been tested since the meeting, although the fighter’s rep told MMAFighting.com that he had made himself available for testing and had been testing himself.
In previous bouts where out-of-competition testing was employed, the NSAC began testing eight weeks from a scheduled bout, although there’s no official timetable for the times and dates of testing.
Now, the job of ensuring Belfort is clean on fight night falls to the CSAC and Foster, who promises to do a thorough job, testing the fighter via blood and urine in and out of competition as a condition of his licensure.
“He’ll be drug tested,” said Foster. “CSAC has most extensive program in the counry. Certainly, I spend the most money. Vitor will be tested as he would be in Nevada. The whole world’s watching this. We’re going to make sure Belfort is fighting clean, and I think Vitor will fight clean, because he knows he’s being tested.
“(The Nevada commission) took his word, just like he’s giving his word to California. We’re going to trust, but we’re going to verify.”
Still, it was Belfort’s second failed test with the NSAC, which suspended him in 2006 after it found a steroid in his system following PRIDE 32 in Las Vegas.
mmajunkie.com/2014/10/ufc-184-targeted-for-los-angeles-with-chris-weidman-vitor-belfort-main-event
