Kemal
11-06-2013, 20:04
Vitor Belfort believes it's important to live a life with no regrets. For that reason alone, he's finally ready to open up about his use of testosterone-replacement therapy (TRT).
"I want to leave a legacy, and the first legacy I leave is myself," Belfort told MMAjunkie. "If I can live with myself, I can give this to my kids. Nothing is worse than to go home and have to sell yourself to your family, to make up a whole different history of what you did, of how you lived your private life. That's no way to live.
"The TRT is my private life, but it's become public, and it's now a big, big thing. I believe that all the good things I'm doing, people kind of forget it and have a tendency to not pay attention or give credit for the way I'm winning fights, the way I'm working, the way I'm being an example for my Blackzilian teammates. I'm putting in the hard work, and I'm not done yet."
Belfort (23-10 MMA, 12-6 UFC) is undeniably one of the most recognizable faces in the sport. Our conversation took place on a flight headed from the Brazilian city of Fortaleza, host site of this past weekend's UFC on FUEL TV 10 event, to Rio de Janeiro, where Belfort will spend the next few weeks filming a reality show and tending to a few investment projects. As we talked, we took short breaks so Belfort could take pictures with fellow passengers and even the crew. Young, old, male, female – it made no difference. His popularity in Brazil is that strong.
That Belfort would even choose to have the conversation with me may be as surprising as the actual revelations he'd soon share. Three weeks earlier this was a man who had made waves at a UFC post-event press conference by jokingly asking attendees to beat me up for asking about TRT following his violent knockout win over Luke Rockhold.
Between then and now, Belfort had reached out to apologize, and we had both agreed to continue in our professions in the most appropriate manner possible.
"I recognized my mistake," Belfort said. "Some people even said I shouldn't apologize because I did nothing wrong. But I told them, 'You're wrong. I'm going to apologize.' I think you recognize when you're right and when you're wrong. Sometimes, you may actually be right, but it doesn't mean you're always right. So if you make a mistake, you just recognize and admit it.
"I think I just felt like everybody was attacking me. And right there, in that fight, I shocked the world. Nobody expected me to win the fight with a head kick. I expected everybody to recognize my hard work. But when something came up about TRT instead, it kind of hurt my feelings."
The truth is Belfort hated getting the questions because he didn't know exactly how to answer them. I had asked him similar questions prior to his bout with Michael Bisping in January, and his frustration then, too, was evident. Belfort said it was a topic he always hoped would just work itself out and that his hesitance to discuss his participation was part of a deep-seeded, family-taught concern.
"When I was very young guy, I was very active, and I was treated medically for [attention deficit disorder]," Belfort said. "But oftentimes people are like, 'I don't want people to know.' I believe the first ones that teach that kind of thing to people is their own family.
"My sister used to have depression, and my family would say, 'No, don't tell.' My sister was like, 'No, I can't let my boyfriend or whoever know I'm on medication.' Then they stop taking medication, and they get even worse."
But after the press conference incident, Belfort sought the advice of trusted friends and advisers, and he eventually realized his place in the world. As a public figure, and one who seems to be doing his very best athletic work at 36 years old, people have questions. Belfort hopes he can finally answer them.
"So basically what TRT is for me is to not be at a disadvantage," Belfort said. "People talk like it's a cheating process, but it's the opposite. Low testosterone is something that can cause serious health problems and even death. You can have problems, big problems, if it's untreated. So the treatment is for you to live longer and have a better life by having less health problems.
"People think TRT is about increased sex drive or performance-enhancement. It's not that. It's about life. It's like women and progesterone. They don't get pregnant if they don't have any progesterone, so they need to replace that hormone. It's similar with TRT. It's just for me to have better health, a better life."
"I want to leave a legacy, and the first legacy I leave is myself," Belfort told MMAjunkie. "If I can live with myself, I can give this to my kids. Nothing is worse than to go home and have to sell yourself to your family, to make up a whole different history of what you did, of how you lived your private life. That's no way to live.
"The TRT is my private life, but it's become public, and it's now a big, big thing. I believe that all the good things I'm doing, people kind of forget it and have a tendency to not pay attention or give credit for the way I'm winning fights, the way I'm working, the way I'm being an example for my Blackzilian teammates. I'm putting in the hard work, and I'm not done yet."
Belfort (23-10 MMA, 12-6 UFC) is undeniably one of the most recognizable faces in the sport. Our conversation took place on a flight headed from the Brazilian city of Fortaleza, host site of this past weekend's UFC on FUEL TV 10 event, to Rio de Janeiro, where Belfort will spend the next few weeks filming a reality show and tending to a few investment projects. As we talked, we took short breaks so Belfort could take pictures with fellow passengers and even the crew. Young, old, male, female – it made no difference. His popularity in Brazil is that strong.
That Belfort would even choose to have the conversation with me may be as surprising as the actual revelations he'd soon share. Three weeks earlier this was a man who had made waves at a UFC post-event press conference by jokingly asking attendees to beat me up for asking about TRT following his violent knockout win over Luke Rockhold.
Between then and now, Belfort had reached out to apologize, and we had both agreed to continue in our professions in the most appropriate manner possible.
"I recognized my mistake," Belfort said. "Some people even said I shouldn't apologize because I did nothing wrong. But I told them, 'You're wrong. I'm going to apologize.' I think you recognize when you're right and when you're wrong. Sometimes, you may actually be right, but it doesn't mean you're always right. So if you make a mistake, you just recognize and admit it.
"I think I just felt like everybody was attacking me. And right there, in that fight, I shocked the world. Nobody expected me to win the fight with a head kick. I expected everybody to recognize my hard work. But when something came up about TRT instead, it kind of hurt my feelings."
The truth is Belfort hated getting the questions because he didn't know exactly how to answer them. I had asked him similar questions prior to his bout with Michael Bisping in January, and his frustration then, too, was evident. Belfort said it was a topic he always hoped would just work itself out and that his hesitance to discuss his participation was part of a deep-seeded, family-taught concern.
"When I was very young guy, I was very active, and I was treated medically for [attention deficit disorder]," Belfort said. "But oftentimes people are like, 'I don't want people to know.' I believe the first ones that teach that kind of thing to people is their own family.
"My sister used to have depression, and my family would say, 'No, don't tell.' My sister was like, 'No, I can't let my boyfriend or whoever know I'm on medication.' Then they stop taking medication, and they get even worse."
But after the press conference incident, Belfort sought the advice of trusted friends and advisers, and he eventually realized his place in the world. As a public figure, and one who seems to be doing his very best athletic work at 36 years old, people have questions. Belfort hopes he can finally answer them.
"So basically what TRT is for me is to not be at a disadvantage," Belfort said. "People talk like it's a cheating process, but it's the opposite. Low testosterone is something that can cause serious health problems and even death. You can have problems, big problems, if it's untreated. So the treatment is for you to live longer and have a better life by having less health problems.
"People think TRT is about increased sex drive or performance-enhancement. It's not that. It's about life. It's like women and progesterone. They don't get pregnant if they don't have any progesterone, so they need to replace that hormone. It's similar with TRT. It's just for me to have better health, a better life."