Vitor Belfort has confirmed reports that his suffered a knee injury before his UFC 224 fight with Lyoto Machida. Belfort posted to Instagram to confirm the news that he injured his left knee in the first week of his training camp for the fight, which he lost via second-round knockout last Saturday.
Belfort said in the post, “Winning or losing, fighting injured or not; it is part of an athlete’s life. I’m not the first one nor will be the last one athlete to fight injured. Even though all the limitations imposed to me because of the injured I suffered. It is my decision to step into the octagon or not. And I decided to do it! I did not want to miss the chance to have my last fight at the UFC; in my country, my hometown and with a such respected opponent. I gave my best on the fight and my opponent was the better man that night.”
He added that the injury takes nothing away from Machida’s win and the only thing that bothers him “is knowing that I performed bellow of what I know that I can.”