Since making his Octagon debut at the young age of 19 years when he took on and defeated Tra Telligman at UFC 12 in 1997, Vitor Belfort has been one of the true pioneers of mixed martial arts (MMA) during his now-20-year career in the sport.
Belfort has shared the Octagon with some of the most dominant names in the game like Randy Couture, Wanderlei Silva, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Alistair Overeem, Dan Henderson, Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, and so many more; and has also reigned at the top of the 205-pound division when he defeated Couture for the light heavyweight title in 2004.
As of late, however, Belfort has been slowly diminishing in his ability to keep up with the new tier of upper-echelon combatants in the UFC’s middleweight division, and he’s now coming off of three TKO losses in his last four Octagon appearances.
Belfort was able to rack up an impressive three-fight win streak with a string of victories over Michael Bisping, Luke Rockhold, and Dan Henderson that would eventually land him a title shot against Chris Weidman. Weidman, who at the time was the most dominant 185-pounder in MMA, was able to survive the usual first-round blitz from ‘The Phenom’ before securing a takedown and scorching the Brazilian on the ground for the TKO win at 2015’s UFC 187.
Belfort would then regroup with a win over Dan Henderson via R1 KO in their meeting just a year ago, looking for a step up in competition after the dominating performance. He would then be handed the dangerous Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza at UFC 198.
The gap in technique and ability was clearly visible in Belfort and Souza’s Octagon meeting, as Souza outclassed the former 205-pound champ and secured a takedown for an early ground-and-pound win similar to Belfort’s loss at the hands of Weidman.
The 39-year-old would follow this up with a lackluster performance against the steadily rising Gegard Mousasi last night (Sat., October 8, 2016) in the co-main event of UFC 204 from Manchester, England, in which Belfort again was downed by the younger and and more powerful mixed martial artist.
Again Belfort’s first round blitz would be neutralize, and he would fall victim to another devastating ground-and-pound loss in front of the fans he has been entertaining for the past two decades.
With this most recent loss hanging over his head, Belfort has now proven that he simply can’t hang in with the younger and more evolved fighters who grace the Octagon today, having now lost to two young champions in two both the light heavyweight and middleweight division, Weidman and Jon Jones.
‘The Phenom’s’ legendary career has seen him not only reign as the best in the world at 205-pounds when he was once the champion of the light heavyweight division, but has featured three separate title opportunities as well.
For Belfort to have accomplished so much starting from such a young age in the biggest promotion the sport has ever seen is unprecedented, making the Brazilian a shoe-in for the Hall Of Fame once he decides to finally walk away from the sport for good.
It may only bein his best interest, however, to walk away now as young contenders will continue to rise and evolve with the sport; as it is unlikely we will see anymore growth from Belfort at this current point in his career.
Perhaps one last match-up to send the future Hall of Famer off into the sunset would be an acceptable way to go, but nonetheless it is safe to assume that Belfort’s days as a professional mixed martial artist at the top of the game are numbered given the slew of recent loses he has suffered in devastating fashion as of late.
He’s a legend of sport, and like we saw with Dan Henderson last night, even the best fade at some point or another.
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