VITOR BELFORT OBVIOUSLY wasn’t pleased about having to take a back-seat during Friday’s UFC ‘Go Big’ press conference in Las Vegas.
The media event was dominated by interim featherweight champion Conor McGregor, who was seated in the front row to promote his 12 December title unification bout against Jose Aldo at UFC 194.
Belfort has been fighting for the UFC since 1997 and is a former champion, but the 38-year-old Brazilian — who takes on Dan Henderson in a rubber match on 7 November — was placed a couple of rows behind McGregor and Aldo, and was asked just one question for the duration of the press conference, which lasted an hour-and-a-half.
Belfort clearly wasn’t impressed by McGregor’s antics, as the Irishman spent the majority of the event verbally attacking rivals such as Aldo, Chad Mendes, Rafael dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone.
The ex-UFC light-heavyweight champion, who has twice failed performance-enhancing drug tests, claimed on Instagram that McGregor is more of an entertainer than a sportsman, and that he’s setting a bad example to kids.
Belfort said:
This is a legend fight Belfort vs. Henderson 3. We don’t need trash talk to sell tkts. I am wondering if one day MMA will be seen more like a sport and less than entertainment? It seems that we are going to the wrong way. A good example is Aldo (real athlete) and Mc Gregor (trash talker). To become an Olympic sport we have to apply the Olympic values not only the Olympic rules. Where is the RESPECT?!? I don’t want to see our kids thinking that to become a successful MMA athlete you have to talk crap instead of respecting others. Real martial arts is not about this!!! We need a good example starting from the organizations, fighters and extending to the media and fans. It is a free consulting!!! I have a voice!!!!
H/T: MMAFighting.com
