Former UFC light heavyweight champ, and recent middleweight contender, Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort (19-9) had been campaigning to meet fellow Brazilian Wanderlei Silva at the upcoming UFC: Rio event later this August. Unfortunately for Belfort, even after accepting an offer to meet “The Axe Murderer” in a rematch of their 1998 bout in Brazil, Silva turned it down and instead took a fight with Chris Leben.
Belfort and Silva squared off at the first UFC event in Brazil at “UFC Ultimate Brazil” back in October of 1998. The fight lasted less than a minute with Belfort walking away the winner crushing Silva in 44 seconds by TKO.
He recently had a five fight win streak come to a screeching halt after a front kick by UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva ended his nite at UFC 126 last February. Now “The Phenom” waits for a new opponent and hopes that he’ll get to compete on the Rio de Janeiro card.
Wanderlei challenged you via TATAME and you accepted his proposal. Dana White seemed favorable to this rematch and things were all good, then Wanderlei started asking for Leben on his Twitter. What are your thoughts about that?
Well, my friend, what can I do? The thong is a men’s whip and he needs to learn to talk less and fight more. But, what I can do, right? That’s life, bro, I don’t care about it, I’m focused for my next challenge. I don’t care about names, I don’t pick my opponents, and I always focus 100% in my next fight, independently of who I’ll fight with.Were you disappointed when you heard you weren’t fighting Wanderlei anymore?
For me it’s ok, I don’t live to build up my expectations on men, I hope things come through God, and that’s just life. Sometimes we lose, you can get surprise other times and we have to be prepared and ready for it, because we can’t guarantee results. I’m the kind of guy who likes to do what I say, I don’t like saying and don’t keep up with it.Do you dream of fighting on in UFC Rio, where you was born and raised? Do you hope to get this invitation?
That’s everything I want. That’s the dream, to fight in Rio de Janeiro, in my country. Fighting for my people has always been my dream. Since I was one of the firsts on the sport in Brazil, it’s a kind of rewards for me for everything I done.
HT: Tatame.com