Vitor Belfort Discusses Leaving Trainer Shawn Tompkins

Vitor Belfort

Vitor Belfort (photo courtesy of UFC.com)

Vitor Belfort discusses leaving trainer Shawn Tompkins.

UFC middleweight contender Vitor Belfort discusses his decision to leave trainer Shawn Tompkins and spend his UFC 126 training camp at Xtreme Couture.

“The past five years I’ve been training, four years, I think, I’ve been training at Xtreme Couture and I feel good over there. I have good trainers. When Tompkins left there we tried to work together, but he’s doing his thing, you know,” said Belfort on Thursday.

“He was doing his team and he wants to do it the way he wants, and I felt like I still want to work over there, but I just thought it would be very, you know, it wouldn’t of worked out working with all of that. They have, like, personal issues and stuff.”

Not to be caught in the middle, Befort decided to spend his training at Xtreme Couture, where he and Tompkins first worked together.

“I don’t take things personally. I just take things professional. I met with him. I sat down with him and really talked to him and said, you’re going in this direction. I think for me is what’s better is that direction,” explained Belfort.

“Not just myself made the decision. I have people around who are related and really important to my life. It was a very easy decision.  The only thing was hard was, off course, you want things to work out,” he added. “I consider we as a firm. Every fighter has his own, like, he represents himself of course, but you have people around you that helps us to make decisions.”

For Belfort, the choice was just a business decision.

“Nothing has changed in my training. I’m very happy. It was just a business decision. That’s what it was,” he said. “Nothing personal.”

Belfort takes on Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 126 on Feb. 5 and the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas for the middleweight championship.

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