Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is petitioning to fight Chris Weidman at UFC 181 on December 6.
The fact that the perennial contender is already booked for that championship bout is inconsequential, at least according to Rockhold in his recent comments to Bloody Elbow.
That licensing is questionable. Is the fact that he cried supposed to make us feel sorry that he's been a lifelong cheater? He's pretty much a pathological liar. He should really consider taking up acting. Maybe he should read for the next Expendables movie. He's pretty much enough of a mutant to fit right in there ... Here's my opinion; there's no way in Hell Vitor makes it to this fight. Something is gonna happen that prevents it. He's either going to get off steroids, train and then get injured because he's not on them anymore, get caught for PEDs, or he's going to back out with an 'injury'.
Despite failing a random drug test for elevated levels of testosterone in February, "The Phenom" still received a conditional license from the Nevada State Athletic Commission at their hearing last week, per MMA Junkie.
Several fighters panned the NSAC decision since Belfort also failed a drug test for anabolic steroids in October 2006, per MMA Weekly.
Furthermore, Belfort was an open user of testosterone replacement therapy until the commission banned the treatment in February and hasn't fought on American soil since August 2011.
Rockhold was one of the three fighters knocked out by Belfort via a head kick during his current win streak, with the American Kickboxing Academy standout suffering the lopsided defeat at UFC on FX 8 last May.
Obviously, Rockhold didn't gain any respect for his Brazilian adversary after the fact and has been calling for a rematch to prove the highlight-reel KO was a fluke, per FOX Sports.
According to the UFC's official rankings, Belfort is the No. 2 middleweight in the world, while Rockhold cracks the list at No. 5.
Rockhold has won 11 of his past 12 matchups and has rebounded from the loss to Belfort with two quick finishes over Costas Philippou and Tim Boetsch, respectively.
Meanwhile, Belfort is 5-1 since August 2011 (all finishes) and his lone setback was a short-notice light heavyweight title bout against Jon Jones.
Will Belfort be able to make it to his championship showdown with "The All-American" at the end of the year? Or will Rockhold's prediction ring true as the challenger will need to be replaced sooner than later?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
