Lyoto Machida says Chris Weidman is ready to stand with Vitor Belfort.

[The Great Cochrane]

Vitor Belfort certainly hasn mastered the art of knockout since his inception to MMA way back in 1996, he's compiled a total of 17 career knockouts out of his 24 wins in the process over the likes of some of the best that MMA has to offer. It's no wonder that they'd like to think Weidman who has less career wins than Belfort has knockouts would be foolish to stand with the Phenom.

However, one person who doesn't believe that this is the case is Weidman's most recent opponent; Lyoto Machida. And that's very fittng considering Machida went the full 25 minute distance against the champion at UFC 175 and has trained with Belfort when both were members of the blackhouse gym back in 2004.

Machida beleives that Weidman is more than comfortable to stand with Vitor, judging from a recent interview he gave to mmafighting.com

I don’t think so. Weidman is ready to fight anywhere. If he has to stand, he will. Vitor can obviously land a punch and end this, that’s what makes this sport so captivating, but I think he will be ready to fight him there.

Weidman bested two strikers in stand up battles, defeating Anderson Silva twice and recently earning a 5 round decision over Machida. Belfort's style emphasizes more boxing than diversified striking than Silva or Machida, but Machida believes that come UFC 181 Weidman will indeed be ready.

It’s a good fight for both. They both stand a chance. We can’t underestimate either of them. Weidman has evolved a lot, has a big heart. Vitor is super talented, also evolved a lot, and is an athlete that works hard. When you have such a close fight like that, when it’s hard to break down, it’s hard to predict a result.

People may question Vitor's ability due to his lack of TRT use, but Machida was very quick to dismisss that and said we can expect the same Vitor Belfort we have even before the TRT.

I think Vitor has a better chance in the first round and the first half of the second round because of his characteristics, but after that, I think Weidman’s chances are better than Vitor’s.

UFC 181 takes place December 6th from the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas Nevada.

Author: Alex Cochrane
Source: Guilherme Cruz (mma fighting)

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I have to admit, Weidman's for real but he also fought two defensive fighters. Vitor is smazing at finding his opponent's chin but Weidman's got a crazy chin.

oh, and if I hear one thing about TRT... :boxing:

 

[Swinny]

TRT. TRT! TRT TRT TRT!!!!

Seriously though, it's always going to be talked about when it comes to Vitor and this fight, so I'd get used to it. Pumped up for this fight though.

 

[The Great Cochrane]

TRT. TRT! TRT TRT TRT!!!!

Seriously though, it's always going to be talked about when it comes to Vitor and this fight, so I'd get used to it. Pumped up for this fight though.

As CT Fletcher would say "That's for them straight form, looking poor mother fuckers who do nothing but sit on the couch and talk shit!"

TRT has no effect on guys in the gym, I used to train with this 52 year old dude who did TRT. Mind you, I started training with him a year after his cycle (which he was clearly off) and people were telling me he was just as good now as he was than. If it doesn't have effect in the 50s I couldn't imagine it making much of a difference when you're 37. People who're lazy as fuck and don't train just want to bring that into excuse like Bisping who's one of the biggest whiny babies in all of professional MMA.