Let’s make two things clear from the beginning: Vitor Belfort is an amazing fighter, and an equally terrible trash talker. He demonstrated both of these things on Saturday night, with both his brilliant finish of Michael Bisping and his callout of Jon Jones immediately afterwards.
Of course, Jon Jones is a little busy at the moment, getting ready for Chael Sonnen and all. Belfort addresses this by asking Dana White to “Take that clown away” so he could have his rematch with Jones instead of having Bones fight Sonnen in the spring.
No one is here to say that Belfort can’t beat Sonnen in the cage – especially at light-heavyweight – but “The Phenom” doesn’t exactly live up to his nickname when it comes to trash talking. Even though I wouldn’t count Belfort’s post-fight interview as a callout of Chael Sonnen, the clown comment definitely left a sour taste in his mouth. Sonnen wasted no time responding to Belfort’s comments, using his commentary gig on the post-event FUEL TV broadcast to issue the following statements:
“Well listen, let me be really clear and speak directly to you, Vitor. You’ve been telling the world that you want to meet Jesus, and I will gladly arrange that travel. But first I’m going to get rid of Jon Jones, but you are next,” said Sonnen. He acknowledged that he was impressed with Vitor’s performance in the cage, but made it clear that Vitor “is next.”
I hate to spoil the fun, but I highly doubt Belfort is next for Sonnen if he actually defeats Jon Jones (the winner of Gustafsson vs. Mousasi comes to mind). In reality, this fight makes much more sense if Sonnen were to lose.
When it comes to Belfort vs. Sonnen and Belfort vs. Jones II, both matchups seem unlikely to occur in the near future, but who are we to not play make-believe? Which fight would you look forward to more, and who wins it?