Max Holloway on Jose Aldo: ‘At The End of The Day, I Respect Him’

Max Holloway and Jose Aldo may have been trading verbal barbs, but that hasn’t caused “Blessed” to lose respect for his UFC 212 opponent. This Saturday night (June 3), interim featherweight champion Holloway will battle 145-pound title holder Aldo in a unification bout. The action takes place inside the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. […]

Max Holloway and Jose Aldo may have been trading verbal barbs, but that hasn’t caused “Blessed” to lose respect for his UFC 212 opponent. This Saturday night (June 3), interim featherweight champion Holloway will battle 145-pound title holder Aldo in a unification bout. The action takes place inside the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. […]

UFC 212, Samsung Partner to Broadcast Event in Virtual Reality

The UFC and Samsung have partnered together to present MMA in a new way beginning this Saturday with UFC 212. The event will be broadcast from Brazil in virtual reality, giving fans another way to see the action as real as ever. “We’ve always felt that the potential of combining UFC events with virtual reality […]

The UFC and Samsung have partnered together to present MMA in a new way beginning this Saturday with UFC 212. The event will be broadcast from Brazil in virtual reality, giving fans another way to see the action as real as ever. “We’ve always felt that the potential of combining UFC events with virtual reality […]

Vitor Belfort’s Retirement Fight Reportedly Set For UFC 212

UFC legend Vitor Belfort reportedly has his final fight in the octagon ready to go. After an initial report from Combate, MMA Fighting has confirmed the UFC is targeting ‘The Phenom’ versus Nate Marquardt for June 3’s UFC 212 from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in what will be Belfort’s last trip to the cage. Belfort

The post Vitor Belfort’s Retirement Fight Reportedly Set For UFC 212 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

UFC legend Vitor Belfort reportedly has his final fight in the octagon ready to go.

After an initial report from Combate, MMA Fighting has confirmed the UFC is targeting ‘The Phenom’ versus Nate Marquardt for June 3’s UFC 212 from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in what will be Belfort’s last trip to the cage.

Belfort is one of the fight game’s most transcendent stars as the only to have bridged the gap from the UFC’s “Dark Ages” to today’s evolved brand of mixed martial arts. The Brazilian knockout artist will go down as one of the most game competitors to compete in the octagon as well, having won a UFC Heavyweight Tournament title and the UFC light heavyweight title. He’s obviously seen better days in his decorated career, however, losing four of his last five bouts with all four losses coming by way of TKO.

Also a veteran of Pride and other MMA promotions, Belfort fought a who’s-who of legendary MMA talent and has only lost to the best in a 25-14 career that featured 18 knockout wins. A true testament to his warrior spirit, he’s fallen only to Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba, Alistair Overeem,  Jacare Souza, Gegard Mousasi, Chris Weidman, and most recently Kelvin Gastelum.

After losing to the rising TUF 17 winner this March, Belfort revealed his next fight would be his last after admitting his body could no longer compete with the best fighters in the world after so many years and wars.

That’s a long list of unforgettable UFC stars a fighter would be hard-pressed to even face half of throughout a career. Belfort also owns wins over Couture, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, Rich Franklin, Luke Rockhold, two over Henderson, Heath Herring, and of course, UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping.

It’s that unreal record which “The Phenom” should be most remembered for, but unfortunately two drug test failures (one in Pride and one out of competition in the UFC) cast a severe cloud over his legacy, the second of which ended his highly controversial run as the poster boy for testosterone-replacement therapy (TRT) when he knocked out Bisping, Rockhold, and Henderson with huge head kicks in the span of roughly 10 months in 2013.

True, he’ll always be equated with performance-enhancing drugs, yet his impact on the growing sport of MMA – throughout its frowned-upon early years and the public popularity of today – cannot be denied.

He’ll look to end his illustrious run on a high note against Marquardt, another middleweight who’s fought a long list of legends, in his native Rio de Janeiro on the Jose Aldo/Max Holloway-headlined event. He was rumored to potentially face former rival Anderson Silva, but “The Spider” shot down the fight by citing he wanted an opponent who won his last fight after Kelvin Gastelum was forced out of the bout for failing an out-of-competition USADA drug test for marijuana metabolites.

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It’s Time For The Old Lion To Leave The Jungle For Good

MMA is a harsh and unforgiving game, which is why it’s so remarkable that Vitor Belfort has kept himself relevant in the sport for over 20 years. “The Phenom” was once a UFC light heavyweight champion and is still a UFC tournament winner. He once possessed some of the fastest and most explosive striking in

The post It’s Time For The Old Lion To Leave The Jungle For Good appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

MMA is a harsh and unforgiving game, which is why it’s so remarkable that Vitor Belfort has kept himself relevant in the sport for over 20 years.

“The Phenom” was once a UFC light heavyweight champion and is still a UFC tournament winner. He once possessed some of the fastest and most explosive striking in the sport, making him a legitimate knockout artist.

Perhaps more notably and notoriously, the Brazilian was once the poster boy for the UFC’s testosterone-replacement therapy (TRT) era, an era that saw Belfort, in 2013, run through top middleweights Michael Bisping, Luke Rockhold and Dan Henderson with three consecutive head kick knockouts.

Unfortunately, the 39-year-old Belfort is no longer that same man, and to be blunt, he’s a mere shell of his former self.

Belfort has lost four of his last five fights, with all four of those losses coming by way of T/KO. The most recent loss in that stretch came in the main event of last night’s (March 11, 2017) UFC Fight Night 106 from Fortaleza, Brazil when Belfort was stopped by 25-year-old Kelvin Gastelum in the opening round.

“The Phenom” was dropped early on, but he was able to regroup and land back on his feet before a thunderous left hand from Gastelum, followed by a flurry of ground strikes, gave the referee no choice but to end the fight.

Photo by Jason Silva for USA TODAY Sports

The loss added to Belfort’s concerning losing streak, but it also added to his steady physical decline that we have seen over the last few years.

His body is longer the same; he looks tired, worn down, and dare I say, old, a complete 180-degree flip from the physique he possessed during his vicious knockout spree that took place just a few years ago. Aside from that, Belfort’s chin has seemed to abandon him, as he simply doesn’t appear to be able to come back after getting clipped. “The Phenom” has always seen success in using an explosive blitz of powerful strikes, but nowadays, Belfort looks almost helpless in the octagon if that patented early blitz doesn’t land.

With one fight left on his current contract, Belfort has made it clear that he would like to fight one more time at UFC 212 on June 3, 2017 in his home of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It’s a reasonable request and one that should be granted given Belfort’s history of accomplishments in the sport, but his retirement bout shouldn’t come against another young and hungry prospect.

Belfort simply can’t compete with the division’s young, hungry contenders anymore, nor can he can compete with the division’s elite at this stage of his career. It’s clear that the best days of his illustrious career are behind him and perhaps it’s comforting that he too has realized that.

The Brazilian will likely remain a well-known name in the sport of MMA, and for good reason. His career speaks for itself, as he was once a young lion, even a Phenom, but those days have drifted away. Father time waits for no fighter and Belfort is no different.

There’s no shame in that. He shares the UFC record for most finishes of all-time with his countryman Anderson Silva, and he’s put on some of the most iconic knockouts on film. Belfort has nothing left to prove. He will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame the moment he is eligible. He doesn’t have to keep absorbing more damage to cement his legacy. It’s in place, and it’s a decorated one for a man who got in on the ground level of a now-thriving new sport.

It’s time for the old lion to leave the jungle once and for all.

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