HOUSTON – This past month, a Deadspin report dropped a bombshell on the MMA world.

According to the report, the UFC was in possession of evidence suggesting that Vitor Belfort, who had already been suspended for steroid use once, might be abusing synthetic testosterone. In spite of this knowledge, the report states, the UFC took no action against Belfort and allowed him to fight for the light heavyweight title against then-champion Jon Jones at UFC 152.

The UFC has been mum on the report – until now.

On Saturday, following the UFC 192 pay-per-view in Houston, UFC Vice President of Public Relations Dave Sholler told MMAjunkie that allegations of a UFC cover-up to protect Belfort and his testosterone replacement therapy use back in 2012 are untrue.

“Any suggestion or inference there was a cover-up is just categorically false,” Sholler said. “That period of time with TRT is one that was very tricky for everyone – for the UFC, for athletic commissions, and for athletes alike.”

TRT usage was banned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission in February 2014. Once the ban of therapeutic-use exemptions passed, fighters like Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Dan Henderson, Todd Duffee, Frank Mir and Forrest Griffin, all of whom had TUEs for TRT, could no longer apply for exemptions to use synthetic testosterone.

“I think when everybody came to a conclusion that it didn’t have a place in the sport and was outlawed in 2014, we were quick to make sure that we, too, followed suit, as Nevada had said,” Sholler said.

In June, the UFC announced it had partnered with the United States Anti-Doping Agency to conduct drug testing on its athletes year-round.

“This is the most comprehensive, effective, best program in all of professional sport,” said Jeff Novitzky, the UFC’s vice president of athlete health and performance, said at the time.

“As you look at it today, we’ve signed on with one of the greatest and most stringent drug testing policies in the world through USADA,” Sholler said. “So our positioning on anti-doping in the sport is the same: We have no place for it in our sport, and we’re going to, through Jeff Novitzky and the USADA folks, continue to be aggressive to make sure that performance-enhancing drugs have no place in the UFC.”

Belfort was stopped by TKO against middleweight champion Chris Weidman in a title fight in May at UFC 187 – and even then, Weidman lobbed allegations that Belfort’s testosterone levels weren’t what they should be.

Belfort next meets Henderson in a trilogy rematch in the UFC Fight Night 77 main event next month in Brazil. Belfort (24-11 MMA, 13-7 UFC) and Henderson (31-13 MMA, 8-7 UFC) first met at PRIDE 32 in Las Vegas in 2006, a fight Henderson won by unanimous decision. Their rematch headlined UFC Fight Night 32 in November 2013 in Goiania, Brazil. That time, Belfort caught Henderson with a head kick, leading to a 77-second knockout.

For more on UFC Fight Night 77, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.