Michael Bisping acknowledges how essential Vitor Belfort is in UFC historical past, however he nonetheless doesn’t have to love the man.
Earlier this month, at UFC 315, the promotion introduced former gentle heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort as a member of the 2025 UFC Hall of Fame class, getting into the Pioneer Wing. It’s the crowning achievement of an extended and storied MMA profession, however one which additionally stung fellow UFC Corridor of Famer and frequent UFC commentator Michael Bisping.
Bisping has an extended private historical past with Belfort. The 2 fought at UFC on FX 7 again in 2013, with Belfort profitable by head-kick knockout. That end indifferent the retina in Bisping’s eye, resulting in him shedding complete imaginative and prescient in his proper eye. On the time, Belfort was utilizing testosterone alternative remedy (TRT), which Bisping has by no means forgiven him for, labeling Belfort “the biggest cheat” in combat sports history.
However regardless of his dangerous blood with “The Phenom,” Bisping wasn’t too incensed when he realized Belfort was getting inducted into the Corridor of Fame.
“Once we had been in, I feel it was Des Moines, Iowa, Paul Felder had a bit of piece for the bundle the place we converse in regards to the greatness of the folks getting inducted into the Corridor of Fame,” Bisping informed Mike Bohn. “They mentioned, ‘We gained’t ask you Mike, for apparent causes.’ I mentioned, ‘You recognize what? I don’t care. I’ll do it.’ Whenever you take a look at it and take away all of the feelings from it, the person was the UFC heavyweight champion of the world at 19. He then grew to become the sunshine heavyweight champion. He nearly grew to become the middleweight champion. He’s the closest factor we’ve needed to a three-weight champion.”
Whereas Belfort was by no means a UFC heavyweight champion, he did win the heavyweight event at UFC 12, knocking out Scott Ferrozzo in simply 43 seconds within the finals. He later claimed the UFC gentle heavyweight title with a win over Randy Couture at UFC 46 when a punch lower Couture’s eyelid, forcing the physician to cease the bout. Couture then reclaimed the title of their rematch a couple of months later.
Belfort then bounced round amongst varied promotions earlier than returning to the UFC in 2009, the place he challenged for the middleweight title twice, and lightweight heavyweight title as soon as, falling brief on all three events. Throughout this run, he made use the medical exemption for TRT when that was allowed however was in any other case by no means implicated in any PED utilization. Regardless, even Bisping admits that for as a lot as he might not look after Belfort, he can’t argue about his contributions to the game.
“Was he an enormous cheater? After all. Did he take a number of steroids? After all,” Bisping mentioned. “Had been there a number of different folks doing that on the identical time. Completely there was. So, I used to be like, ‘I get it.’ However then, once I thought of it, I assumed, ‘I misplaced a watch due to this man. He can stick his Corridor of Fame up his ass.’
“However he does deserve it. He does deserve it. You possibly can’t deny what he did contained in the octagon. You simply can’t deny it. Going again all the best way to when his UFC debut was, if that’s not a Corridor of Fame profession, I don’t know what’s. Whether or not you prefer it or not, he deserves it.”
