Vitor: Fans can help pay for my camp!

Top UFC light heavyweight Vitor Belfort spoke recently with Brazil’s Combate, and discussed his novel plan to have fans contribute to his training camp.

“If Donald Trump, a guy who has 10 billion dollars, needs to raise money for his campaign, I’ll show how much I spend on a training camp,” said Belfort, as translated by Lucas Rezende for BE. “I’ll put that up on the internet and I’ll give people the chance to contribute. Families, children, whoever wants to help. Any VitorBelfort fan will be able to help, like soccer fans do with their teams. It’s a way of saying ‘I was part of this’. I believe in investing a lot. That’s very important.

“If presidents like Trump and Hillary Clinton need to raise money for marketing, I’ll show how much I need and how much I spend. I think it’s fair. When you go to church, you must contribute. I think the most honest thing a man can do is show the numbers. The most important thing is to be honest. If you’re straightforward, people will want to contribute. I have one million and 400 thousand Twitter followers. If everyone one of them paid one dollar, how much would I have? It costs nothing. Who doesn’t have a dollar to give? You could make a business out of this and help more athletes. If you give money to a guy who knows how to do it, it will work. I think I have the right mind to make it happen.”

“You could have dinners, meet ups, etc. The fan, like an owner of the club, has access to a ticket. I have to buy tickets for my friends when they want to see me. Many people say ‘Vitor only gave me a ticket’, but I paid a fortune for that ticket. I wish I could give discounts or let people in for free. But only to put on a show for people who contributed. These are your fans, you must do your best for these people. There are plenty of ways to give back to them.”

 Vitor Belfort fights Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza on Saturday, in the co-main event of UFC 198, in Curitiba, Brazil.