On Saturday, August 27 the UFC will return to Brazil for the first time since October 16, 1998. That event, “Ultimate Brazil” was headlined by a middleweight title bout between Frank Shamrock and John Lober, but it is perhaps best remembered for the 44 second beating Vitor Belfort gave to Wanderlei Silva.
The promotion will bring UFC 134 to the HSBC Arena in Rio next Saturday and the event, like the first UFC Brazil event, will be headlined by a middleweight title fight as Anderson Silva defends his title against Yushin Okami. The co-main event will feature Mauricio “Shogun” Rua facing Forrest Griffin. In all, 14 Brazilian fighters will be competing on the 12 fight card. Only one contest will be without a Brazilian fighter.
UFC president Dana White recently posted the first installment of his fight week video blog earlier this week. In the vlog, which flashes back last Thursday’s announcement of the UFC’s deal with FOX, White catches up with Rob Dyrdek, Rashad Evans and Frankie Edgar and gets some of their predictions for UFC 134. The three predict the main event, which will pit Anderson Silva against Yushin Okami and the co-main event which will feature Forrest Griffin and Yushin Okami.