You have to admire him sticking to guns.
After UFC President Dana White told our very own Ariel Helwani last week he wanted to match Vitor Belfort up with former Strikeforce turned UFC middleweight contender Tim Kennedy, Belfort did not react in an overly enthusiastic manner.
According to a report from Globo, Belfort won’t be taking any middleweight fights unless it’s for a title. He’ll fight at catchweights or wherever he can to stay busy, but at 185 pounds? Either it’s for a title or it ain’t happening.
“It doesn’t make sense that Vitor, who is No. 1 in the rankings, should fight against No. 2, No. 6 or No. 10 in his weight class,” said Belfort’s wife and manager Joana Prado. “His next fight in the middleweight class will be against the winner of Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva. If the UFC wishes him to fight in any class above middleweight, we are at their disposal. It can be anyone, Tim Kennedy, even Roy Nelson, but it has to be at 205 pounds or heavyweight – he’ll even fight as a heavyweight. Vitor wants to fight, but in his weight class, only if for the belt.”
For his part, White isn’t overly thrilled with Belfort’s response or general attitude on the manner. “Vitor, for some insane reason, believes he should get the fight with Weidman or Anderson Silva right now,” he said. “He’s out of his mind.”
5 MUST-READ STORIES
UFC on FOX 8 ratings are low. So low, in fact, that they’re the lowest UFC has ever pulled on the station. Not a huge surprise, of course, but hardly a great number.
Aaron Riley retires. The Fairfax, Virginia-native calls it quits after starting a professional MMA career at age 16.
UFC on FOX 8 videos. We’ve got all of our video interviews, highlights, and more in one convenient StoryStream. Catch up on everything or re-live the action from the past week.
UFC on FOX 8 winners and losers. Sure, we know who won the fights, but that doesn’t mean everything went right for them. Ditto for those who came out short. Find out who the real victors and defeated were from Saturday.
John Moraga’s coach said he was winning the stand-up against Johnson. Now, he admits Johnson was better that night and dominated in the wrestling department, but I found that to be a fairly interesting statement.
MEDIA STEW
Here’s the first preview of The Ultimate Fighter 18 featuring Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate. There’s footage of Rousey crying, Tate smirking, people yelling. You know, the usual.
Boxing great turned LOL MMA fighter Ricardo Mayorga made another appearance inside the cage. This time he didn’t commit any obvious fouls, which means things didn’t go well for him.
If you didn’t catch the UFC President Dana White post-fight scrum, here it is in all its glory:
Say what you want about the co-main event Saturday night, the main event rocked. The highlights are plenty of proof of that:
Want to see the best breakdown of Ronda Rousey’s judo takedowns in MMA and what it means for her evolution as well as her opposition? Then let BJJ Scout hook you up with the details:
NO APOLOGIES NECESSARY
I want to say sorry to my fans&the viewers for storming out of the cage. 1 second is a hard pill to swallow, no excuse 4 being a poor sport.
— Michael Chiesa (@MikeMav22) July 28, 2013
WELCOME TO THIS WORLD
Congrats buddy!! RT @ufc: Congrats to @Mike_Pyle and his wife on the birth of their son, Maximus. pic.twitter.com/csXltCkkkH
— chad mendes (@chadmendes) July 28, 2013
MISTAKEN IDENTITY
So far I have been mistaken for TJ Grant, Jim Miller and Ed Herman today. Least they are all good fighters.
— Patrick Healy (@BamBamHealy) July 28, 2013
THAT’S INCREDIBLY GROSS
Going to leave a couple million “minions” all over this hotel room and by “minions” I mean sperm cells. #Westin #AmCheckout
— Justin Buchholz (@jbmma155) July 28, 2013
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES
Fight my last MMA fight tonight. It’s been fun but after 16 years I’m calling it good. Thanks to everyone who ever supported my career.
— Aaron Riley (@aaronrileymma) July 28, 2013
FRANK SINATRA VIBE
Just posted a photo http://t.co/KGzXvrk88Y
— Gilbert Melendez (@GilbertMelendez) July 28, 2013
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
– N/A
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s FanPost of the Day comes to us from Decado who does the leg work to figure out if the UFC is experiencing a decline in pay-per-view buys. Here’s a snippet, but be sure to read the full post to get the full analysis:
Common wisdom holds that 2010 was the high-point for the UFC, and PPV sales have been declining since. The fact UFC 161 only drew 150,000 buys, a new low, proves that. Right? Wrong.
The UFC’s modern-era (UFC 57 onwards) buyrates actually read something like this:
Mid-Late 2006, buyrates average in the 500ks.
in 2007 buyrate averages drop to a little over 400k per event.
in 2008 that recovers slightly to a little under 500k per event.
Early 2009 explodes and by mid 09 the average is in the 700k per event range.
In Early 2010 the average tumbles to 400k, on the back of a bad run of 8 PPVs.
By mid-late 2010 the average hits mid 700k, matching 2009’s highest average.
Late 2010 is dropping slowly, the average down to 600k by year end.
2011 drops averages to the lowest of the modern era, the mid 300k range.
2012 begins the recovery process, getting averages back over the 400k range.
2013 continues this, with averages as of 162 approaching the 500k range.