The Ultimate Fighting Championship has announced a second big named bout to it’s second ever Brazilian event, as Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson (10-3) moves up in weight to the middleweight division to face former UFC champion Vitor ‘The Phenom’ Belfort (20-9) at UFC 142.
The match was announced on Tuesday at UFC.com.
A second Brazilian mega-star is set to fight at home at UFC 142. “Verbal agreements in for what should be an explosive matchup as powerhouse Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson moves up to middleweight to face ‘The Phenom’ Vitor Belfort at the event,” UFC president Dana White said.
UFC 142 is expected to take place on January 14th of 2012 in Brazil, and will likely take place at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, the same venue for the promotions very successful first show from last August, UFC 134.
Johnson has been criticized often for not moving to 185 lbs before, having twice had glaring issues making the welterweight limit for previous bouts. After a loss to Josh Koscheck in November 2009, ‘Rumble’ was away from the Octagon for 16-months, returning to score wins over Dan Hardy and Charlie Brenneman this past year.
Belfort rebounded from a UFC middleweight title bout defeat to Anderson Silva in February of this past year by earning a first round knockout of Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133 this past August. Belfort expressed his desire to compete at the first Brazilian event, and will now get a chance to fight in front of his fellow countrymen when he faces Johnson in January.