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Vitor Belfort asks for UFC St. Louis pay, Dana White says he turned down replacement fights

By Marc Raimondi
UFC Fight Night Open Workouts Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Vitor Belfort asked the UFC to pay him his fight purse for UFC St. Louis on social media Sunday night. Not so fast, says Dana White.

The UFC president said on the FS1 post-fight show that Belfort was offered a replacement fight for Sunday’s card after Uriah Hall dropped out and Belfort turned it down. White said that the UFC also found Belfort a bout at next week’s UFC 220, but he said no to that as well.

“This thing went down, we worked quickly and we got Vitor a fight,” White said. “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.”

Hall, who was supposed to be Belfort’s opponent in Belfort’s planned retirement bout, withdrew before he was able to weigh-in Saturday. MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani reported that Hall had a seizure as a result of a bad weight cut and he was hospitalized until Sunday evening.

White said he did not know the opponents offered Belfort, but the Brazilian legend apparently wants a fight with Michael Bisping in London on March 17. Bisping told Helwani on Sunday that he has no interest in fighting Belfort.

“When I get back to Vegas and get back in the office, I will obviously talk to Vitor, I’ll talk to Mike,” White said. “We’ll see what happens.”

In an Instagram post Sunday, Belfort asked the UFC to pay him for UFC St. Louis, because he did all the training and preparation and was able to weigh-in successfully. The fight not going down was not his fault.

”A message to the UFC now,” Belfort wrote, “I’m waiting for my paycheck. I did what I had to do - trained, was there on fight week, made weight. Where’s the respect?”

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

It’s still unclear when the former UFC light heavyweight champion will return for his last appearance inside the Octagon 22 years after his promotional debut.

”It’s hard to understand after all the dedication and sacrifice, preparing mentally to retire from a sport I basically helped create, and that simply doesn’t happen,” Belfort wrote. “I have mixed feelings about what happened.

”My retirement fight didn’t go as I planned, but in my heart I know that somehow down the line everything will make sense.”

MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz contributed to this report.

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