Vitor Belfort Wants Pay For Canceled Bout, UFC President Says He Turned Down Fights

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort was supposed to fight Uriah Hall at UFC Fight Night St. Louis, but Hall didn’t appear at the weigh-ins for the bout after falling ill due to the effects of the weight cut.

That would lead to the bout getting canceled, but that hasn’t stopped Belfort from demanding his pay for the canceled encounter.

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Belfort made the demand via Instagram:

 

 

Antes de qualquer coisa só gostaria de dizer OBRIGADO! Obrigado a todos! Todos que me acompanham, torcem por mim e minha família! Mas hj especialmente quero fazer um agradecimento especial ao colunista @chicobarney pela matéria q publicou no Site uol.com.br Lendo o q escreveu me fez lembrar de cada momento descrito no texto. As críticas, meus sentimentos, sonhos, ideias etc... Em um momento como hj, em q o agora não me faz muito sentido... Difícil entender depois de tanta dedicação e sacrifício. De ter me preparado psicologicamente para me aposentar de um esporte q basicamente ajudei a criar... e simplesmente isso não ter acontecido...Tenho sentimentos conflitantes a respeito do q aconteceu... Mas como disse, lendo a matéria também me lembrei de q muito do que fiz, muitas das ideias e muito do q disse anos atrás, não faziam pleno sentido para mim. Eu simplesmente acreditava q daria certo... Q o Vale Tudo na época se tornaria um esporte. Que nós lutadores, não éramos bárbaros se digladiando e sim atletas. Que tínhamos potencial de sermos “uma empresa” de representarmos marcas e valores. Nada disso fazia muito sentido na época, mas dentro do meu coração, sempre fez ... Minha luta de despedida não ocorreu como havia planejado, mas no meu coração sei q de alguma forma lá na frente, TUDO isso fará sentido. Mais uma vez, como sempre fiz e muitas vezes fui ridicularizado por isso. Entrego a minha vida nas mãos do meu Pai q está no Céu. Pq Dele sempre veio a minha paz... Bjo no coração de todos vcs. Agora uma mensagem para o @ufc . Estou à espera do meu pgto @ufc afinal de contas, fiz o que tinha que ser feito ( treinei , estive presente na semana da luta, bati meu peso....) Onde está o respeito!?

A post shared by Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort (@vitorbelfort) on Jan 14, 2018 at 5:19pm PST

Here is a translation of what Belfort wrote (provided by Google Translate):

”First of all I would just like to say THANK YOU! Thank you all! Everyone who accompanies me, cheers for me and my family! But I especially want to make a special thanks to the columnist @ chicobarney for the subject that he published on the site uol.com.br Reading the q he wrote reminded me of every moment described in the text. The criticisms, my feelings, dreams, ideas etc ... In a moment like hj, in which the now does not make much sense to me ... Difficult to understand after so much dedication and sacrifice. From having psychologically prepared myself to retire from a sport that I basically helped to create ... and that simply did not happen ... I have conflicting feelings about what happened ... But as I said, reading the story I also remembered q much of what I did, many of the ideas and much of what I said years ago, did not make any sense to me. I just believed that it would work ... Q Vale Tudo at the time would become a sport. That we fighters, we were not barbarians digging up and yes athletes. That we had the potential to be "a company" to represent brands and values. None of this made much sense at the time, but inside my heart, it always did ... My farewell fight did not take place as I had planned, but in my heart I know somehow up there, EVERYTHING that will make sense. Again, as I have always done and often been ridiculed for it. I give my life in the hands of my Father who is in heaven. Because of him always came my peace ... Bjo in the hearts of all vcs. Now a message to @ufc. I'm waiting for my paycheck @ufc after all, I did what had to be done (I trained, I was present in the week of the fight, I hit my weight ....) Where's the respect !?”

However, according to UFC President Dana White, a soon to be retired Belfort was offered two fights after his bout was canned.

“This thing went down, we worked quickly and we got Vitor a fight,” White said on the UFC Fight Night St. Louis post-fight show. “He could have fought tonight, he chose not to. We got him a fight in Boston. He chose not to fight in Boston. He chose not to fight then. I don’t know who the opponents were, but they told him we got him two fights.”

It should be noted that Belfort still weighed in for the canceled bout with Hall, coming in at 186 pounds.