Dana White Says Vitor Belfort Could Return to UFC, Confirms Machida-Rua for October 24 in Los Angeles, Still Wants Liddell to Retire
During Saturday’s broadcast of The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale, UFC President Dana White announced that former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort could soon return to the UFC and challenge UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
As a guest on “Inside the Octagon” hosted by TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah, White also confirmed that light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida will defend his title on October 24 in Los Angeles against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and maintained that he’d prefer Chuck Liddell retire, though the most surprising news was the announcement that Belfort may again be competing inside the Octagon.
Currently under contract with Affliction and scheduled to fight Jorge Santiago on August 1 at Affliction: Trilogy, Belfort has won four-straight fights since 2007, defeating Ivan Serati and James Zikic at light heavyweight before moving to middleweight in July 2008 with a second-round knockout of Terry Martin. In January, Belfort dispatched of veteran Matt Lindland via knockout in just 37-seconds.
Belfort won the UFC light heavyweight title in 2004 with a first-round cut TKO of Randy Couture, but lost the belt to Couture in a rematch later that year via third-round doctor’s stoppage. “The Phenom” left the UFC following a split-decision loss to Tito Ortiz, then suffered another loss to Alistair Overeem in PRIDE. Belfort went 2-2 with another loss to Overeem and a defeat to Dan Henderson before his recent four-fight win streak. He holds previous notable wins over Marvin Eastman, Bobby Southworth, Heath Herring, Wanderlei Silva, and Gilbert Yvel.
According to White, Silva wishes to remain at 185-pounds following his UFC 101 light heavyweight bout against Forrest Griffin and should Belfort win his August bout he could be fast-tracked to a middleweight title shot.
[Pictured: Vitor Belfort]
Tags: Anderson Silva, Chuck Liddell, Lyoto Machida, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Vitor Belfort
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Belfort back in the Octagon I say hells ya, a “fast track” to the title well, he would bring the fight we all know that sooo It would be a good idea I guess and would spark up the MW division definately… Now we should all remember that Atencio signed all “the big names” that Affliction has, to a 3 fight contract and well come August 1 that would be Affliction’s 3rd card apawn which all have had Belfort on them.. In which Belfort would now be a “free agent”, makes sense to me…
If Dana is going to be talking about it so openly, I think their probably pretty close to signing him or coming to a deal as soon as hes done with affliction. I guess Dana thinks we need more contenders at 185. What i think hes trying to do is set up a fight between Wandy and Belfort for a #1 contenders shot. Now that would be crazy. Although I think the ending would be the same as the first time they met, espeacially if we see the Vitor that fought Lindland. Time will tell.
ok well Linland isn’t what he was 6 years ago and ya Dave Terrell ko’d him quickly back then….
I think that Wanderlei v Vitor could be epic, far more important than the first time they met….
The MW division has contenders………. Nate, Hendo, Maia, you could put Bis in there, Akiyama if he gets a few wins, soo thats like the next year rightthere, then Wand is coming to the MW division but hey Belfort is a hell of addition if it does happen and ofcourse having Couture in your corner helps like a sob
I would say that with Dana mentioning that on “Inside the Octagon” he probably has a deal worked out where with a win at Affliction: Trilogy (Finale) Belfort will be coming to the UFC. That said, Santiago is a decent fighter, but I expect Belfort to pick up that win pretty easily.
Although I’d like to see Belfort back in the UFC cause he is an entertaining fighter,giving him an immediate title shot would be almost as pathetic as the Brock Lesnar situation.Like I said before,there are too many other fighters that deserve a shot,with Maia at the top of the list.
He has opened his mouth a number of times about “possible” additions to the UFC roster that never panned out or took weird routes to secure. Look at how many times Wand was supposed to abandon pride and come to the UFC. Fedor is another story of someone who ‘may’ be gracing the octagon’s presence and never worked out. He may be just waiting to see how Vitor does before extending an offer, but the announcement lets Belfort know he’s interested.
Kick his ass Rua .
Belfort back. That is major! Man with the addition of Wandy and Belfort hey the 185 is just as deep as 205er. IF he actually comes to the UFC and if Wandy can win another fight.
Not that I think it likely, but it would be great to see a Griffin-Rua rematch for the LHW title. Machida to the best of my knowledge has yet to lose a single round in the Octagon, and Shogun looked pretty lackluster against Griffin. I would think that Machida’s next opponent after Rua, if he retains, would be the Jakcson-Evans winner, or Griffin maybe?
It seems the majority favor Belfort’s return and presumed subsequent fast-tracking to a title shot, but it almost seems a bit like Dana White is out of options at MW and becoming frustrated with trying to find challnages and challengers for Anderson Silva, who has beaten everyone, in a variety of fashions ranging from world-class to just OK, and for whatever reason is booking Silva in these “super-fights” instead of asking him to defend his title against someone like Demian Maia.
I also don’t think it would be entirely out of order to give Henderson another opportunity if and when he defeats Bisping, or Bisping a shot if he beats Hendo.
I guess I just don’t see the relevence of bringing back UFC re-treads like Vitor Belfort, regardless of his winning streak against mostly past-their prime or mediocre opponents, when the promotion has many more in-house options to consider…
I hope Vitor comes back i also hope they bring back Nick Diaz after all the pump talk Joe rogan was saying during the Nate fight. Also did you guy see the new TUF heavy weights Commercial like advertising Kimbo something fierce? thought that was kinda funny since Dana says he isn’t a big mma star and nothing in the ufc unless he wins TUF. Although i am pumped for that show. I hope Rampage picks Kimbo on his team thos two could be a pretty funny Duo.
if vitor comes back it does not hurt the mw division, it just adds to it imo. vitor is a bad mofo when he focuses during his camp and fights. as far as rightful contenders for the mw title shot. it was supposed to be maia who was next in line, but leites so gracefully FUBAR’d any chance of a Jiu Jitsu black belt getting a title shot for at least a year. maia is way more dangerous than leites on the ground imo, but as far as a sell for the ufc to ufc fans, a maia-silva title shot will not fly right now. unfortunately maia gets screwed. however if maia shows some decent standup against marquardt at 101-102 [whenever their fighting] and wins convincingly then he should get the next shot after forrest is done with silva.
as for the 205 situation the next title shot was supposed to be rampage’s, but he owed the ufc a favor[they didnt cut him when he went on his rampage after the forrest loss.] so he took the TUF coaching job and fight with rashad. I think forrest would have got the title shot had he not been signed to fight anderson first. forrest will give machida a hell of a fight as will rampage, but both guys have to win, mainly rampage. I think if rampage loses and forrest hangs with silva, doesnt have to beat him just be comptetive even if its a loss, he will get the next shot. thats just my view.
Good point Chris. Rampage definately needs a win. Where as Forest just cant get KOed. Is it just me or do you think Forrest is gonna win this fight against silva? If soe awesome casue im one of the few(that ive see so far) that thinks Forrest can take this fight. Ya it definately sucks for Maia the whole leites thing, but i guess if he beats Nate it will just prove that much more how deserving he is of a title shot. Although i do feel he gonna have his hands full witha bigger, stonger, faster and agressive Marquardt.
Next middleweight shot after the Griffin fight is already spoken for: winner of Hendo-Bisping. Otherwise you may be correct.
Rampage also saw more dollar signs for taking TUF 10 and the Rashad fight than a fight with Machida. I think that is a bigger reason for him doing that than him “owing” the UFC one for his rampage.
After the CroCop situation for Dana to talk so openly about the likes of Belfort and even Barnett whatever agreement that has been discussed must be done or as good as signed
i agree TW@ dana’s a smart dude and i’m sure he’s not going to make the same mistake twice.
Belfort coming back would be interesting but a fast track to a title shot? I wonder what that means…will he be given “da spyder” or some other whatever dude @ mw for the shot? Or will he fight a top mw right away and get a shot if he wins? There are 2 possib;e # 1 contenders soon with the hendo vs bisping and maia vs marquardt fight so who knows if anderson will even be the champ. Either way i’d like to see more talented strikers @ mw and if vitor comes back and wandy drop down that will be kool.
I realy think were going to see Wandy vs Belfort at UFC 103. The timing works. It would be an epic fight, easily maketable for hardcore and casual fans, and i doubt there will be a title on the line come that PPV so they will need some fights like this to bolster the card.
IMO adding Belfort is a hugh addittion, besides Belfort has a lot of fans and he can sell tick for the UFC and if he has the right mind set I have no douths he can defeat A. Silva.
Hendo can beat Silva I have no doubt. He is probably the only person in recent memory to beat silva in a round.. well he didn’t quite beat him in that round but he was in control until he got caught. Hendo was easily overpowering Silva in the clinch during that fight and could do it again which is why he would be a great opponent for Silva.
hendo spider 2 is the fight i wanna see.
vitor could fight loser of spider/hendo – after one fight – that would be fastrack enough for me.
eventually there should be a ladder, similar to other sports.
win by (T)KO or sub and bounce up faster than by dec.
other considerations such as previous record could be on the table – but that’d get tricky.
better any way IMO than just what fans and the pres. wanna see.
(although i think dana picks great match ups)
and yes , i know that he supposedly doesn’t (officially), i think behind the scenes he’s the expert who’s opinion is taken as the right one.
whatever you wanna say about dana he knows MMA
but still, but i favor the ladder.
put another way it be good for the sport, but maybe not amazing for the pay per view.
i don’t respect the PPV but it’s a tacky reality. a way around it might be to televisegive the biggest air time to the brock fighters who in the laddrer system would possibly hit a ’snag’ like carwin or cain before reaching the supposed top.
hendo spider 2 is the fight i wanna see.
vitor could fight loser of spider/hendo – after one fight – that would be fastrack enough for me.
eventually there should be a ladder, similar to other sports.
win by (T)KO or sub and bounce up faster than by dec.
other considerations such as previous record could be on the table – but that’d get tricky.
better any way IMO than just what fans and the pres. wanna see.
(although i think dana picks great match ups)
and yes , i know that he supposedly doesn’t (officially), i think behind the scenes he’s the expert who’s opinion is taken as the right one.
whatever you wanna say about dana he knows MMA
but still, but i favor the ladder.
put another way it be good for the sport, but maybe not amazing for the pay per view.
i don’t respect the PPV but it’s a tacky reality. a way around it might be to televisegive the biggest air time to the brock fighters who in the laddrer system would possibly hit a ’snag’ like carwin or cain before reaching the supposed top.