Lyoto Machida talks Vitor Belfort, says Weidman is no joke.

[The Great Cochrane]

Vitor Belfort has been a little down on his luck as of late. The Phenom was originally scheduled to fight Chris Weidman for the UFC Middleweight Championship at UFC 173 before his TRT exemption was lifted and he was stripped of his license. Since which, Belfort has been using the right methods to release the TRT from his body while he's currently applying for his license in the state of Nevada.

One person who is coming to his defence, however, is Lyoto Machida who's since replaced Belfort as Weidman's challenger. Regardless of the controversy that's gone on since February this year, The Dragon believes that Belfort will be next in line to challenge for the title after him and Weidman do business at UFC 175.

Machida took some time to sit down and discuss the Belfort situation on Fox Sports:

Logically, he's next in line. I believe so. He's next in line.

Machida also spoke highly of his competition come UFC 175, as when asked if he believed Weidman was not worthy of being middleweight champion:

There's no doubt he's the champion. He's the best there is in the weight class right now. He won those fights. You can't take away those merits.

Machida meets Chris Weidman for the UFC Middleweight Championship in the main event at UFC 175, which takes place from the Mandalay Bay Event Center as part of International Fight week. Belfort was originally scheduled to face Chael Sonnen on the card but negative test results forced Sonnen off the card and left Belfort without an opponent.