Former light heavyweight champion, Vitor Belfort claims he was a lamb when he should have been a lion against rival, Jon Jones during their 205 pound title clash back in 2012, lamenting a stunning failed armbar attempt on the current heavyweight champion in the opening round.
Belfort, an alum of the UFC, retired from professional mixed martial arts competition back in 2018, suffering a hellacious opening round front kick KO loss to compatriot and fellow former light heavyweight gold holder, Lyoto Machida in their native Brazil.
As for Jones, the former undisputed light heavyweight champion and current heavyweight gold holder, has been sidelined through a pectoral tendon tear back in November, seeing a scheduled heavyweight title fight defense against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 fall to the wayside at Madison Square Garden as a result.
Vitor Belfort regrets failed armbar against Jon Jones
And reflecting on his light heavyweight title siege against Jones back in 2012 in the main event of UFC 152, Belfort – who revealed he suffered a fractured rib ahead of the bout, claimed he should have broken the Endicott native’s arm during a tense armbar attempt.
Jon Jones refusing to tap to an armbar from Vitor Belfort is top tier savagery pic.twitter.com/ZKERSR0ME4
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“In that Jon Jones fight, I only reaped what I sowed,” Vitor Belfort told Jota Jota during a recent interview. “I could have ripped that arm off. So why didn’t I? Because I didn’t. I was a lamb when I should’ve been a lion. I wne into their fight with a fractured rib. That was the only day when Jon Jones was in extreme danger in his career. The only fight that he practically lost and then managed to turn it around.”
“I think he was a great lion, and I was a great lamb,” Vitor Belfort explained. “I realized that when I signed a contract from my spiritual father and my spirtiual brother. When I signed the contract, ti said ‘I’ll show mercy to my opponent or try to be a sportsman.’ A sportsman is someone who obeys the rules and he will try to follow them. I wasn’t a sportsman, I was being Jon Jones’ buddy. I should’ve ripped his arm off, it was the time for me to be the lion.”