Vitor Belfort Gets TRT’d out of UFC 173 and Lyoto Machida is in

In a big announcement on FS1 Thursday night/Friday morning, the UFC shocked no one when they informed us that Vitor Belfort was out of UFC 173 and Lyoto Machida was replacing him. Once it was announced that TRT was banned by the NSAC earlier in the day, it was inevitable that Vitor would pull out of this fight. Since the UFC plans on following the ban on TRT when they regulate themselves overseas it will be interesting to see what happens for many of the fighters using it.

Vitor will be at the center of that attention as he has been on a remarkable run since his loss to Jon Jones. Three highlight reel knockouts later and he found himself with a shot at the middleweight title. Now that is gone for the moment and who knows if and when he gets another shot. There are many different factors involved and not the least is how will Vitor respond to not using TRT.

The Vitor versus Chris Weidman fight had some intrigue to it but I think that it is a bad matchup for Vitor. Weidman does not make mistakes or leave many openings for his opponents. Also, Weidman would have no trouble finding Vitor but that will not be the case with Machida.

This will be a more tactical fight for Weidman, he will have to be more patient and deal with a much faster fighter in Machida. Since the move to middleweight Machida has looked at his best. He is faster and has retained his power. This is due to the fact that it really is his natural weight class. He really did not cut weight to make light heavyweight. Since his friend Anderson Silva lost the belt Machida moved down and has looked phenomenal in his first two fights.

Both Weidman and Machida have fought Mark Munoz and they each scored impressive knockouts. Weidman’s came in the second round off a sweet elbow back in July of 2012 at UFC on Fuel TV4. Machida’s went down this past October at UFC FN 30 via a head kick.

This fight will be very interesting matchup. It will be Weidman’s wrestling, and ever evolving all around game. Taking on Machida’s movement, use of space, explosiveness and his growing skill set. Can Weidman take Machida down and work him over on the ground? Can Machida soften Weidman up with leg and body kicks before going upstairs? We will get all the answers at UFC 173 in the new TRT free UFC.