Dana White: Vitor Belfort Might Win This Fight And Want To Fight Cain Velasquez
Vitor Belfort has been competing as a pro for almost 18 years now; delivering 16 brutal knockouts, three submissions and only four decision wins. Vitor is one of the UFC’s original stars, winning the Heavyweight tournament in 1997 by beating Scott Ferrozzo and Tra Telligman in under two minutes combined.
The Phenom also went on to hold the UFC Light-Heavyweight strap before serving a four year tenure at mostly Japanese organizations. Since his return in 2009, Belfort has taken the UFC by storm; his only losses coming to Jon Jones and Anderson Silva in title fights.
Belfort is coming off of two straight knockout victories, both by head kick, against Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold. Yet the situation with TRT may prevent Belfort from ever getting another title shot. The NSAC will not allow him to fight in Nevada, home of Las Vegas (the UFC’s anchor venue), due to the fact that he had tested positive for silver back gorilla DNA PED’s in the past.
The UFC has tried to accommodate Vitor’s needs, offering him a fight with Tim Kennedy, but Belfort was having none of it. Refusing to fight Kennedy, Belfort was eventually scheduled to face Dan Henderson at UFN 32 in Brazil. UFC prez Dana White spoke to Fightersonlymag.com regarding Belfort’s situation:
“Vitor Belfort is in a weird situation in the UFC because Vitor Belfort puts himself in weird situations, We had fights that we wanted to make for Vitor, and then Vitor has his own ideas of what Vitor wants to do.”
Although it may seem that Belfort is being difficult, maybe he is just realistic about his chances of gaining another title shot at his age. It is now or never, even with a TUE, for the 36 year old KO artist. White continued:
“We gotta see what happens with this fight with Vitor, and then we’ll figure out where Vitor is [in the rankings], Vitor might win this fight and then want to fight Cain Velasquez, for Christ’s sake. Who knows what Vitor wants to do.”
I enjoy watching Vitor fight, he is a savage and you just know that any minute he is likely to explode and knockamuthafukaout. I remember when he knocked Luke Rockhold out, I almost couldn’t believe that Belfort is still evolving as a fighter.
At this late stage in his career, does Belfort really have a legit chance at being champion again?