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Weidman: "I never turned down a Belfort fight" - Fighters Only

Chris Weidman has moved to clarify reports that he turned down a fight with Vitor Belfort in order to wait for a match with Anderson Silva.

Previous comments of his were ambiguous - or at least, reported in ambiguous fashion in the MMA photosphere - so Weidman took to the Underground forum to explain things.

“Just wanted to make it clear what happened here. The week after my last fight Belfort and a bunch of guys called me out. No fight was offered to me from the UFC. So no fight was turned down. From my understanding the UFC told Belfort the fight wasn't gonna happen with me and him so he took the fight with Belcher,” he says.

“At the same time my management and I were waiting for the UFC to find out when Anderson wanted to fight next. If it was in a couple of months then I was a possible opponent. A couple of weeks after Belfort already accepted the fight with Belcher, the UFC announced that Anderson wasn't fighting until 2013.

“Had I known that from the beginning I would've jumped on the fight against Belfort. I think he's a great fighter and it would've been great for my career. Thanks.”