Vitor Belfort Reportedly Turned Down Interim Title Fight with Lyoto Machida

Vitor Belfort wants no part of Lyoto Machida.

At least not at UFC 184. Belfort, who found himself without an opponent after Chris Weidman went down with an injury, reportedly declined the chance to face Machida for a UFC interim middleweight title on Feb. 28.

That's according to report from Brazilian website Tatame, which was subsequently translated into English by Bloody Elbow. 

Tatame got the scoop from Gilbert Burns, a UFC lightweight and Belfort's jiu-jitsu coach. Burns said Team Belfort did not feel there was enough time to prepare for Machida, who has a distinctive style based on karate striking and evasion.

"We don't think that is fair...a fight with a guy with such [a] different style and with nothing to lose," Burns said. "[Belfort] has been training for more than six months to fight [an] orthodox wrestler. Now he would have less than a month to prepare for a southpaw karateka." 

News broke Friday that Weidman (12-0), the reigning UFC middleweight champ, had suffered a rib fracture and would have to pull out of his title defense against Belfort.

Andre Penner/Associated Press

Evidently, UFC officials offered Machida (22-5) to Belfort as the first replacement. The Dragon is 3-1 since moving down to middleweight from light heavyweight, with his only defeat at 185 pounds coming to Weidman in a bout that made many short lists for the best MMA fight of 2014.

Belfort (24-10) is on a roll as well, winning his last three fights, all by knockout. However, all of those fights were at light heavyweight; he dropped to middleweight for this fight with Weidman.

All is not lost for those wishing to see a top-level middleweight fight at UFC 184. According to the Tatame report, Belfort would consider opponents with styles more similar to Weidman's, including standouts such as Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and Yoel Romero. The UFC has not made any further announcement about whether the fight will stay on the card and who might replace Weidman.

No matter what happens, Belfort was clear about his ultimate goal:

"

As you already know unfortunately my opponent was injured again. The focus is the same: TO FIGHT AGAINST WEIDMAN FOR THE MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE!

— Vitor Belfort (@vitorbelfort) January 31, 2015"