The sprawling reach of the UFC 151 catastrophe has touched far more than just the event itself. The fallout of the debacle has stretched all the way from Toronto, Canada, to Brazil, where it has plucked middleweight contender Vitor Belfort from a UFC 153 match against Alan Belcher and inserted him into a contest with Jon Jones.
The whole thing certainly opened a door for Belfort, but what about the man he was originally signed on to fight?
Belcher, now without an opponent or a fight, is hoping his next contest will come against a title player in the 185-pound weight class. Specifically, Belcher is hoping to take on the surging Chris Weidman, a desire he expressed in a video blog he posted Sunday, August 26 (comment around the 2:40 mark).
Chris Weidman, I think that fight makes sense. I, you know, I think that….Do I think that he’s the No. 1 contender? I don’t know about that, but, you know, I think that he’s definitely up there.
Belcher also uses the video blog to explain that he suffered a back injury while training for Belfort, which severely limited his training.
That the bout with Belfort was called off was disorienting for the middleweight contender, but the opportunity to heal up and refocus provides something of a silver-lining to the deal. And if he gets his wish and lands a fight with Weidman, then the opportunity to heal up just might turn into a title opportunity before long.
Though the middleweight title landscape remains quite muddled, a win over a rising star like Weidman would greatly improve Belcher’s station in the UFC and increase his odds of fighting for gold sooner rather than later.
So how about it? Is a Belcher vs. Weidman fight something you’d want to see?
Hat tip to MMAweekly.com for posting the story and linking to Belcher’s video blog.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com