Earlier this week, Vitor Belfort tweeted UFC President Dana White to publicly request a title shot against the winner of Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman.
Belfort famously lost to Silva via first-round front kick at UFC 126, but since then has racked up an impressive 4-0 streak at middleweight, punctuated by ‘Knockout of the Year’ candidate finishes over Michael Bisping and former Strikeforce champion Luke Rockhold.
Nonetheless, White suggested Thursday that a Silva-Belfort rematch was unlikely due to the lopsided nature of Belfort’s defeat, adding tongue-in-cheek that it’d be easier to talk Silva into a rematch against Dan Henderson because of the relative competitiveness of the pair’s first bout.
“The hard position that Vitor is in is when you talk about a rematch for him, it’s like, [Silva] kicked him in the face in the first 60 seconds in one of the most devastating knockouts of all-time,” White told reporters. “So when you go back to Anderson Silva, who’s in the twilight of his career, and you say to a guy like Anderson, ‘Eh, what about Vitor?’ He’d say, ‘I annihilated Vitor. I made it look like Vitor isn’t even a fighter we should have been fighting.’
“I’m not saying Vitor couldn’t get the next shot or couldn’t get a shot soon. But if you’re Anderson Silva, you’re like, ‘I’m looking for another challenge. I want to fight GSP. I want to fight Jon Jones or somebody different than Vitor Belfort.'”
After being shot down by White, Belfort took to Twitter on Friday, pleading his case in a lengthy tweet that can be read in full below.
It’s incredible how it seems as though Silva is the one picking his opponents. Think about this: Cain got knocked out in a devastating loss to Cigano, and after one fight he gets another title shot. Then after being massacred by Velasquez for 5 rounds, now Cigano gets another chance for the title. In order for a rematch to take place, the champion must accept a challenge. Both Cigano and Velasquez accepted. But I, on the other hand, crushed all the contenders that were put in front of me, and it seems that I have earned nothing, not even the respect I deserve for all I have done for the sport. My spot is the highest of any division contender in the UFC, and it is only logical and fair for me to be given a shot at the title. Why is it that I don’t have a title shot? Just because one time, Anderson happened to land a kick?! I can assure you that given a second chance, that would never happen again.
I have proven myself over and over. It seems that Anderson wants to go on and do super fights or whatever. How can he think of doing a super fight right now when he has a contender of my caliber waiting to compete for the belt. I have no problem with super fights, as long as they don’t tie up the belt from other great contenders who deserve a chance to accomplish the greatest moments of their career. Nobody should be able to strip me of the dreams that God gave me and that I have worked so hard to achieve! It doesn’t matter who is the champion or how many title defenses they have, they should fight who is the number 1 contender in the sport, and that person is me! I really can’t understand any reason why Anderson would refuse to fight me, unless he was scared that the result would be different this time.
Mind you, I have no personal beef against Anderson or any other fighter. I’m just talking about every fighter’s dream to win the belt – to fight for the world championship! That’s what this business is all about. If Chris Weidman can get a title shot just by defeating Munoz, imagine how much I deserve this after devastating everyone they put in front of me, not to mention all that I have contributed to the history of the sport. I deserve more respect for what I have done, am still doing, and am about to do. Come on – they even say that it makes more sense for Silva to fight Hendo??? What a joke! I trust that if Anderson keeps the belt on Saturday night or if Chris Weidman wins, they will accept the challenge to fight me next, because I earned the spot. Dana White, MAKE IT HAPPEN!