Midnight Mania! Bisping Tears Apart ‘Drug Cheat’ Belfort In Fiery Rant

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

It’s been just about ten years since the reign of TRTor Belfort.

Back in 2013, Vitor Belfort had just challenged Jon Jones on short-notice for the Light Heavyweight title, putting forth an admirable performance and nearly catching an armbar early on. Back at Middleweight, the Brazilian went on a tear, winning three fights in a the calendar year.

Each win came via knockout. Specifically, each win came via vicious head kick knockout. “The Phenom” was in incredible form, looking outright devastating in each trip to the Octagon, wildly athletic and dangerous. This created controversy, however, as Belfort was openly — and, at the time, legally — making use of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT).

After his win streak, Belfort was supposed to challenge Chris Weidman for the Middleweight title. However, TRT was soon banned, and Belfort flunked a drug test, delaying the fight until 2015. When the two did clash, Belfort looked positively deflated.

The first man to suffer at the hands and shins of TRT-fueled Belfort was Michael Bisping, and “The Count” is still angry. While discussing the dirtiest fighters in UFC history on his YouTube channel, Bisping reserved a special rant for his former foe.

“This guy is everyone’s favorite Bible basher. Everyone’s favorite hypocrite, everyone’s favorite lecturer, the guy’s such a bloody piece of s—t.” Michael Bisping said (via Josh Evanoff). “It blows my mind, and he caused me to lose an eye. That’s right, I’m talking about Vitor ‘The Phenom Hypocrite’ Belfort. The former light-heavyweight champion, heavyweight champion, middleweight contender, and the biggest drug cheat in the sport.”

He continued, “This guy is the biggest cheater in the history of combat sports, right, and it has to do with the steroids mainly. We’re not putting a ball in a basket, we’re not trying to get a ball in a net, we’re trying to knock our opponents unconscious. If you’re knowingly taking steroids all the time, I’ve got no respect for you whatsoever. You’re not respecting the sport, you’re not respecting your opponent.”

“…I had to fight him in 2013, and at that point, he was taking so many steroids his a— was probably glowing in the dark. But it is what it is, I went down there to Brazil to fight the guy… Of course, I paid the ultimate price because I ended up losing an eyeball because of that fight.”

Though both men are retired from MMA, Belfort is still boxing, having knocked out Evander Holyfield in September 2021. Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, Belfort is looking awful jacked in his semi-retirement.

Insomnia

Regard Jared Gordon vs. Bobby Green — WAS IT AN INSIDE JOB?!?!?

I was deeply concerned Mark Coleman actually wanted to slap fight Tim Sylvia, but Sylvia’s reply seems to indicate that it was a friendly joke.

Nate Diaz is made of teflon, he’ll be okay.

Terrible Wikipedia page pictures are always fun.

Jiri Prochazka may or may not be living the life of a James Bond villain.

World class takedown defense:

It’s been a little while since we’ve checked in on Sean O’Malley, I wonder what “Suga” is up to.

Bantamweight doesn’t disappoint.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Sometimes, sprinting towards the finish works well.

Szczepaniak got caught with his feet square after shifting forward pretty aggressively with his punches.

Jonathan Haggerty’s knockout win over Nong-O last week was incredibly shocking and deserves all of the attention. Incredible!

Random Land

Incredible timing.

Midnight Music: Funk, 2018

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.