Vitor Belfort Stricken with Hep A, Fight with Akiyama at UFC 133 Still a Go

Vitor Belfort will be taking a few weeks to rest after being diagnosed with Hepatitis A recently.

The UFC middleweight made the announcement about his contraction of the disease on his personal Twitter account, which his representative Pedro Lima later verified to MMAWeekly.com.

According to Lima, doctors are unsure how Belfort caught Hepatitis A, but the diagnosis will require the Brazilian to stay out of training and rest for the next three to four weeks.

The Mayo Clinic describes Hepatitis A as: A highly contagious liver infection caused by the hepatitis A virus. Hepatitis A is one of several types of hepatitis viruses that cause inflammation that affects your liver’s ability to function.

You’re most likely to contract hepatitis A from contaminated food or water or from close contact with someone who’s already infected. Mild cases of hepatitis A don’t require treatment, and most people who are infected recover completely with no permanent liver damage.



The time off shouldn’t affect Belfort’s scheduled fight in August against Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133, but he will need to take some time off to get past the initial illness.

Lima also confirmed that Belfort will miss out on his scheduled trip to Canada this week. He was headed to Toronto to support his friend and teammate Randy Couture in his fight against Lyoto Machida at UFC 129.

Belfort will continue to rest and recover at home in Las Vegas for the next few weeks, and then look to head back into training to get ready for his August fight against Akiyama.

Damon Martin is the lead staff writer and radio host for MMAWeekly.com.

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