Luke Rockhold calls Vitor Belfort's UFC title shot 'a joke'

UFC middleweight Luke Rockhold (12-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) said he would relish the chance to “shut his mouth and get paid for it,” referring to fellow 185-pounder Michael Bisping, an on-again, off-again rival since a gym sparring session went public.

“I can’t imagine many better things in the world,” he said. “That’s pretty nice, right behind Vitor (Belfort).”

What Rockhold really wants, though, as he said this past Saturday before taking in UFC on FOX 12, is a shot at Belfort. His animosity toward the ex-champ and current middleweight title contender seems to grow with every interview, and every time he gives one, Belfort is a topic.

Rockhold joked that the media scrum’s topic was reserved for his two favorite adversaries, then made a bold prediction about one of them.

“I just don’t think Vitor is going to make it to the fight (with Chris Weidman at UFC 181),” he said. “So I’m going to be ready.”

Once politically correct around the subject of testosterone-replacement therapy, of which Belfort was a poster child, Rockhold has grown more and more outspoken as the controversial treatment was banned and Belfort subsequently failed a drug test and was scratched from a title fight at UFC 173.

Three days after Belfort received a conditional license from the Nevada State Athletic Commission to fight Weidman at the Dec. 6 pay-per-view event, Rockhold spoke to reporters backstage at UFC on FOX 12 and threw a few more jabs at his former opponent, who knocked him out this past year in Brazil while on TRT.

Rockhold concedes his loss had nothing to do with Belfort’s testosterone use, but he’s enflamed by the idea that the fighter will get a title shot despite two previous failed tests, one in 2006 for a steroid and another in February for an elevated testosterone ratio.

“If he’s clean and healthy, he’ll probably get injured,” Rockhold said. “His body will fall apart; it’s too frail. He’s been doing this s–t for too long. And if he realizes he can’t compete off of it, he’s probably going to try to slip something in and he’s going to get popped with a test.

“So I just think that someway or another, he’s going to fall out. So I’m just going to be ready.”

Rockhold was cleared to fight earlier this year after breaking his toe in a first-round submission of Tim Boetsch at UFC 172, yet he remains unbooked for his next fight. In the interim, Bisping has taken a shot at him for participating in a UFC-branded pool party in Las Vegas, and Belfort’s uncertain future has been swept aside for a title fight.

“I’m not a fan of steroid use in MMA,” Rockhold said. “This isn’t a game; this is hand-to-hand combat. We’re not hitting balls; we’re not racing bikes. We could possibly kill each other, and for guys to be chemically enhanced on PEDs, it’s not right.

“Yeah, (the NSAC was too easy on him). You get guys like Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds and Lance Armstrong, and these guys get erased from the record books and never come back to the sport. They’re gone; they’re forgotten. Then you got guys like Vitor Belfort that get slapped on the wrist and rewarded with a title shot. It’s a joke in my mind. He got caught early for steroids in Nevada, got popped after this whole stint in Brazil. I owned up, I took my loss, no excuses. But then he comes back, and the one time he tries to fight in the States, he fails the test. That right there, I’ve got no respect from him.”

On Monday, Belfort defended his time on TRT, claiming the testosterone isn’t a steroid. He said he was not cheating and added he has traded “TRT for TNT” in preparing to fight Weidman.

But for Rockhold, there is no exchange. He called Belfort a lifelong PED user.

“I knew who he was way before (I fought him in Brazil),” Rockhold said. “I knew when he was 18 and came in as a heavyweight in the UFC. The guy’s been…it’s obvious. Anybody who knows the sport and understands it, they know what he’s been doing his whole career, from the start.”

For now, the prospect of getting a second chance against “The Phenom” is off the table for Rockhold. The former Strikeforce champ said he could potentially fight Bisping if the Brit comes out ahead in a bout later this month against Cung Le at UFC Fight Night 48, or he could meet the winner of a middleweight headliner next month between ex-Strikeforce champs Ronaldo Souza, whom he beat to win the title in the now-defunct promotion, and Gegard Mousasi.

“I’m just waiting around,” he said. “I want a good fight, I want a big fight, and I want to move forward. I want to win that title.”

Of course, winning the belt would make him a very attractive target to Belfort. So far, the Brazilian hasn’t responded to Rockhold. A bit of gold would make him hard to ignore.

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