Vitor Belfort: 'I feel like an animal' without TRT

**beanlicker** · 05-06-2014, 03:53 PM

By Guilherme Cruz @guicruzzz on May 5 2014, 2:00p

Vitor Belfort already said he wants a shot at the UFC middleweight title in July, and he’s not a fan of Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida.
"The Phenom" was replaced by Machida in the championship bout after Nevada State Athletic Commission banned the use of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), but Belfort believes another Brazilian should be the one fighting Weidman at UFC 175.

"It makes no sense that (Machida) is fighting for the title. Jacare should be the one (fighting Weidman)," Belfort told Sensei Sportv in Brazil. "If there’s a ranking, they should validate it. But the ranking does not exist, so we have to accept. Whoever has the belt will be my next opponent. That’s a fact."

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, a former Strikeforce middleweight champion, is 3-0 in the UFC with wins over Francis Carmont, Yushin Okami and Chris Camozzi. Machida is a former UFC light heavyweight champion with a 2-0 record since cutting down to 185 pounds, defeating Gegard Mousasi and Mark Munoz.

Belfort dropped TRT and is back to training and says he feels great without the therapy, but his testosterone levels are far from the normal range. "I feel like an animal," he said. "The Holy Spirit gives me everything I need. I’m training like an animal. Nobody trains harder than me.

"My hormone stays at 200 today, and the normal range is from 300 to 800. (TRT) raised my levels to a normal range according to the commission. My hormone was at the same level of my opponents’, so they are in advantage now." According to the Brazilian, the commission decided to ban TRT because he was knocking people out in the UFC.

"You have TRT in baseball, basketball and many other sports," he said. "Unfortunately, it became a myth (in MMA) because I was knocking people out. That was the problem, and not Chael Sonnen, Frank Mir and Dan Henderson using it."

"After TRT was banned, Dan Henderson fought Shogun (Rua) with TRT," Belfort continued. "That’s funny because a Brazilian can’t use TRT there (in the United States), but an American can fight here. If TRT exists in many others sports, why can’t it exist in MMA? If gives you no advantage, it only puts you at the same level of the other athletes.
"People say ‘oh, so you should retire.’ Yeah, you want me to retire so you won’t get knocked out. I won’t retire. I will be back and I will win."