Belfort: I feel like an animal with no TRT

**Naj85** · 06-05-2014, 00:39

Vitor Belfort had been scheduled to fight UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman for the title. However, he was administered a surprise out of competition test by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which has banned the use of Testosterone Replacement Therapy; thereafter he declined to apply for a license. The title shot went instead to Lyoto Machida, and Belfort expects to fight the winner. He will first have to get relicensed by a commission in the USA, which may not prove to be a simple matter.
Belfort was recently interviewed by Brazil Sensei Sport TV, and discussed training without TRT.
"I feel like an animal," said Belfort as transcribed by Guilherme Cruz for MMAFighting. "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."
"You have TRT in baseball, basketball and many other sports. 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 with TRT. That’s funny because a Brazilian can’t use TRT there (in the USA), 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."
Belfort's remarks about Henderson competing with a Therapeutic Use Exemption in Brazil refer to the last UFC event for which TRT was accepted. That is no longer the case.
Watch entire interview... (original Portuguese language)