Vitor Belfort dropped out of his upcoming UFC middleweight title shot on Thursday a few hours after the Nevada Athletic Commission banned testosterone replacement therapy. Belfort was scheduled to fight 185-pound champion Chris Weidman at UFC 173 on May 24. His title shot was given to Lyoto Machida by UFC President Dana White. UFC 173 is the next major card in Las Vegas, the UFCs hometown. The influential Nevada commission voted unanimously on Thursday to stop granting therapeutic use exemptions for TRT, closing a widely criticized loophole that allowed mixed martial arts fighters to compete on steroids. "As other jurisdictions may follow suit, I am going to drop my TRT program and compete in MMA without it," Belfort said in a statement provided to Fox, the UFCs broadcast partner. "Given the time constraints involved between now and my proposed next bout in May, I have determined not to apply for a license to fight in Nevada at this time." The 36-year-old Belfort has been open about his use of synthetic testosterone in recent years. His sanctioned steroid use has coincided with a career resurgence for the former UFC light heavyweight champion, who won three consecutive bouts by early-round knockout in 2013 while fighting in his native Brazil. Belfort claimed he needed TRT because of low testosterone, an argument which generated wide criticism because he failed a drug test for elevated testosterone in 2006 following a bout in Las Vegas for the Pride promotion against Dan Henderson, another acknowledged TRT user. Use of performance-enhancing drugs can lower the users natural testosterone levels. Belfort hadnt fought in Nevada since February 2011, before his announced TRT use began. He had intended to apply for an exemption to use synthetic testosterone before UFC 173. White and the UFC have been increasingly critical of TRT use in recent months, with White telling The Associated Press in January he supported the elimination of therapeutic use exemptions for testosterone. White hailed the Nevada commissions ruling Thursday. "We believe our athletes should compete based on their natural abilities and on an even playing field," White said. "We also intend to honour this ruling in international markets where, due to a lack of governing bodies, the UFC oversees regulatory efforts for our live events. We encourage all athletic commissions to adopt this ruling." The Nevada commission had granted therapeutic use exemptions for several fighters in recent years, including contenders Chael Sonnen and Frank Mir, but had never approved synthetic testosterone for a fighter who had failed a drug test for anabolic steroids. Machida is another former UFC light heavyweight champion from Brazil. He is getting a title shot against Weidman in just his third bout at 185 pounds after winning four of his last five fights overall. Weidman took the title from longtime UFC champion Anderson Silva last July and defended it in a rematch in December when Silva broke his leg while kicking Weidmans knee. Weidman has been critical of Belforts testosterone use, once saying Belfort "looks like the Hulk now" and hoping the UFC wouldnt schedule their bout in Brazil, where drug testing is considered much less stringent than in the U.S. Discount Detroit Lions Jerseys .The result meant Juventus will spend the winter break three points clear of Roma after the league leader beat Cagliari 3-1 on Thursday.Milan remained seventh ahead of the rest of the weekends fixtures, but was provisionally two points behind third-place Napoli in their duel for the final Champions League spot. Custom Lions Jerseys . He says he will have the operation Wednesday and be ready in time for training camp in September. Bernier missed five games in March due to the injury. http://www.cheaplions.com/ . Still, its a start. Josh Baileys goal with 1:40 left capped a furious third-period rally, and the Islanders edged the Penguins 4-3 on Friday night. Cheap Detroit Lions Jerseys Online . Speaking with TSN 1050 following Brendan Shanahans introductory press conference, the Leafs GM also addressed the clubs perceived leadership issues and the type of working relationship that can be expected within Torontos front office. Stitched Detroit Lions Jerseys . Sixteen teams have moved on. Sixteen teams have gone home.Who are some of your favorite former players?Probably former Red Wings defensemen Brian Rafalski and Niklas Lidstrom. With Mr. Rafalski, hes kind of similar to me in the way that he played. Hes a smaller guy who played in the NHL for a while and he won so I liked to watch him as much as I can.Out of your brothers, who tends to mess with you the most?Definitely P.K., hes a prankster. Malcolm is more a laid back quiet guy, but P.K tries to prank us as much as he can.Whos moms favorite?Malcolm [laughs], I dont think she has any favorites, but Malcolm definitely caused her the least grief growing up.Do you ever get sick of talking about your brothers?Uh no, not really, I love hearing about my brothers success and Im just happy for them and when people ask me about it Im happy to talk about it.Is it cool to see them succeed at the pro level (PK in the NHL, Malcolm in the AHL)?Yeah definitely, I think you look back to the preseason when they played against each other for half a game thhat was pretty exciting for my family and I.dddddddddddd We enjoyed it.What is one thing people would be surprised to learn about you?I taught myself how to play piano a little bit. What can you play on piano? I can play some soft songs [laughs] I can play Apologize by One Republic, ladys like that one Im sure.When you play NHL 14, which team do you pick?Vancouver, no doubt. Have you ever played as yourself? Yes I have. What are your thoughts on your player rating? Not bad [laughs] I could be a little bit better Im sure every player would agree. I boost some attributes, my shot and speed.Have you seen this .gif of P.K? What do you think of it?No I havent seen that, thats hilarious, thats pretty funny. It looks pretty funny when hes hopping up and down dancing.Out of the Subban brothers, whos the best at going BarDown?Me. PK just tries to put it through the net, I try to pick corners and hit the bar. Malcolms got a pretty good shot though, I wouldnt count him out. 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