UFC will bring their first event of the year to the masses, live and free, from São Paulo, Brazil this Saturday.UFC on FX: Belfort vs. Bisping features nine fights on the card, and it is capped off by a big middleweight clash between Vitor …
UFC will bring their first event of the year to the masses, live and free, from São Paulo, Brazil this Saturday.
UFC on FX: Belfort vs. Bisping features nine fights on the card, and it is capped off by a big middleweight clash between VitorBelfort and Michael Bisping. A victory by Bispingwill earn him a title shot against long-time champion Anderson Silva.
The rest of the card features a mixture of veterans, newcomers, and some other interesting matchups.
Before 2013 kicks off in full swing, the UFC has a solid night of action awaiting fans in this event.
Here are your power rankings for the entire fight card.
Michael Bisping has been working towards a UFC title shot since joining the organization in 2006. With a win over Vitor Belfort at UFC on FX 7, Bisping would finally find himself in a championship bout.Recently, UFC president Dana White said Bisping wo…
Michael Bisping has been working towards a UFC title shot since joining the organization in 2006. With a win over VitorBelfort at UFC on FX 7, Bisping would finally find himself in a championship bout.
Recently, UFC president Dana White said Bisping would be middleweight champion Anderson Silva‘s next challenger should he pick up a sixth win in what would be his past seven fights (via MMAFighting.com).
As the UFC on FX 7 main event approaches, let’s take a look at Bisping‘s chances of beating Belfort and fighting Silva later on in 2013.
The UFC has been on a bit of a break early in 2013, with its last event taking place on December 29. MMA fans who have been jonesing for some action will get their fill over the next few weeks as the promotion will be very active with five fight cards …
The UFC has been on a bit of a break early in 2013, with its last event taking place on December 29.
MMA fans who have been jonesing for some action will get their fill over the next few weeks as the promotion will be very active with five fight cards taking place before the end of February.
The UFC will open 2013 by traveling to Brazil to present a fight card that will be headlined by a middleweight scrap between Vitor Belfort and Michael Bisping. What follows are some questions facing the promotion as it heads into the January 19 event.
MMA legend Wanderlei Silva has decided to provide his two cents on the upcoming UFC on FX 7 main event, a middleweight bout between Michael Bisping and Vitor Belfort.Silva has in-Octagon experience with each of the two combatants who will slug it out t…
MMA legend Wanderlei Silva has decided to provide his two cents on the upcoming UFC on FX 7 main event, a middleweight bout between Michael Bisping and Vitor Belfort.
Silva has in-Octagon experience with each of the two combatants who will slug it out this Jan. 19, owning a 2010 victory over Bisping and a loss to Belfort that comes from all the way back in 1998.
UFC on FX 7’s 185-pound showdown has the distinct feel of a title eliminator—Bisping on the brink of a shot and Belfort not far behind.
“The Axe Murderer” recently spoke with Sherdog to shed a little light on how this meaningful contest might play out:
It is a very well-matched fight. I think Belfort has all the tools to knock out Bisping in a two-round fight. If it goes three to five rounds, I think Bisping swallows Vitor. One of the things about Vitor is that he is very fast – he lands a lot of blows in succession, so he may get tired. And the Englishman talks a lot, but he also trains a lot, so he will be prepared
There seems to be a lot of wisdom in the prediction Silva provides, given Bisping’s sterling reputation as a cardio machine and Belfort’s as a sort of blitzkrieg expert.
But even with the fight outline Silva gives, we’re still left wondering whether Belfort’s early onslaught will be enough to put away his foe or if Bisping will weather the storm and take the bout later on.
It’s certainly an interesting matchup in terms of style and how each man will attempt to take away a W.
How do you think it will play out? Will it be Bisping’s tempered persistence or Belfort’s explosiveness that seals the deal?
The UFC brings two free cards to the table in January. Things kick off on Jan. 19 with UFC on FX 7: Belfort vs. Bisping, and return one week later on FOX with the UFC’s sixth network television event.Michael Bisping takes on Vitor Belfort in a crucial …
The UFC brings two free cards to the table in January. Things kick off on Jan. 19 with UFC on FX 7: Belfort vs. Bisping, and return one week later on FOX with the UFC’s sixth network television event.
One week later, the UFC flyweight championship will be on the line on FOX. Champion Demetrious Johnson defends the title against John Dodson.
The two main events are not the only interesting fights lined up, but they are most certainly where the focus is. UFC matchmakers Joe Silva and Sean Shelby have put together two strong cards to open the year, and the UFC is giving them away on free television.
Here is an early look at the odds and predictions for the five biggest fights of the month.
After burying most of the UFC middleweight division in his last Yahoo! Sports column — including that poor, poorChris Weidman, who has done nothing to deserve such rough treatment — angry MMA blogger Michael Bisping returned last night with his latest missive, which attacks pretty much every aspect of Vitor Belfort‘s character, from the Brazilian’s physical appearance, to his controversial history of rabbit-punching, to his Rex Ryan-esque affection for his wife’s feet. (Meanwhile, Belfort claims that talking trash is dangerous because it can infect the person doing the talking as much as it can hurt the target. Pffft, whatever!)
On embarrassing fetishes:
“A fan tweeted me a link to Vitor in some Brazilian reality TV show, a clip where he’s in a bath kissing someone’s feet. [Ed. note: In case you’ve somehow never seen this clip before, those feet belonged to Vitor’s wife, Joana Prado.] It was pretty fruity stuff but, if he enjoyed sucking toes, he’s going to have the time of his life on January 19 because I’m going to kick him in the face all night long.” [Ed. note: You son of a bitch.]
On TRT and illegal punches:
“I’m thinking of asking Randy Couture if I can use him old nickname ‘the Natural’ just to make it clear I’m not one of these guys who is on TRT or any of that junk. Whenever someone asks me if I am on it, I give them a straight answer and if they ask me what I think of TRT I always say: ‘I think it is legalized cheating’…I don’t think it has a place in our sport and wish my opinion — and I think the majority of fans’ opinion — was shared by certain other fighters and the people who regulate our sport.
I was disappointed Vitor Belfort started talking in tongues when asked about TRT recently. He had a little more to say on Monday when he was asked directly about my concerns that all his recent UFC fights were won by illegal punches to the back of the head. In between lengthy references to the New Testament, Belfort basically said he doesn’t care if he hits opponents behind the head…
After burying most of the UFC middleweight division in his last Yahoo! Sports column — including that poor, poorChris Weidman, who has done nothing to deserve such rough treatment — angry MMA blogger Michael Bisping returned last night with his latest missive, which attacks pretty much every aspect of Vitor Belfort‘s character, from the Brazilian’s physical appearance, to his controversial history of rabbit-punching, to his Rex Ryan-esque affection for his wife’s feet. (Meanwhile, Belfort claims that talking trash is dangerous because it can infect the person doing the talking as much as it can hurt the target. Pffft, whatever!)
On embarrassing fetishes:
“A fan tweeted me a link to Vitor in some Brazilian reality TV show, a clip where he’s in a bath kissing someone’s feet. [Ed. note: In case you’ve somehow never seen this clip before, those feet belonged to Vitor’s wife, Joana Prado.] It was pretty fruity stuff but, if he enjoyed sucking toes, he’s going to have the time of his life on January 19 because I’m going to kick him in the face all night long.” [Ed. note: You son of a bitch.]
On TRT and illegal punches:
“I’m thinking of asking Randy Couture if I can use him old nickname ‘the Natural’ just to make it clear I’m not one of these guys who is on TRT or any of that junk. Whenever someone asks me if I am on it, I give them a straight answer and if they ask me what I think of TRT I always say: ‘I think it is legalized cheating’…I don’t think it has a place in our sport and wish my opinion — and I think the majority of fans’ opinion — was shared by certain other fighters and the people who regulate our sport.
I was disappointed Vitor Belfort started talking in tongues when asked about TRT recently. He had a little more to say on Monday when he was asked directly about my concerns that all his recent UFC fights were won by illegal punches to the back of the head. In between lengthy references to the New Testament, Belfort basically said he doesn’t care if he hits opponents behind the head.
How he’s gotten away with this in his career is a mystery to me, and I hope we have a strong referee who has the balls to do something about it — if it happens — with thousands of Belfort supporters screaming in the stands. And of course it is down to me to make sure I’m not put in a position where he can unloaded these kinds of shots.”
On chicken legs and chicken hearts:
“I’m looking forward to going to Brazil. I was there for just a few days before Christmas doing PR for this fight. I shook Vitor’s hand and we had a laugh about how at UFC 152 we were around each other quite a lot and got along great — and now we are fighting. It happens a lot in the UFC but it’s always a little strange.
I noticed he looked HUGE. Massive arms, chest and shoulders – a body for posing down at the beach – but then I noticed these little chicken legs sticking out of his arse. I thought: ‘He has the upper body of a lion but the legs of a chicken’.
And – now we are this close to the fight – I will say that he has heart of a chicken, too. He’s a professional bully. If you let him have his way he will rip you apart in short order, but if you fight back and get him tired, he backs down and does basically nothing.”
On back-stabbing:
“In Brazil, we didn’t do a formal press conference but, instead, I was in one room talking to Brazilian media and Belfort was in the next room doing interviews at the same time. I’d just given interviews talking about what a great challenge this was when one media guy said: ‘Wait, Vitor just described you as a hooligan and a thug.’
I didn’t believe him at first — sometimes media people, knowing my hard-earned reputation for embarrassing myself when I get emotional — will tell me stuff like that hoping for a reaction and a nice quote. But everyone in the room confirmed Vitor was sitting in the other room bitching me out like he was on ‘Real Housewives’ or something.
I was very surprised to be honest, because just a couple weeks before he’d been really cool about me training in a gym owned by his sponsors. I really appreciated that but after bitching me out he then sent me a text message saying: ‘Sorry, just hyping the fight.’
Now, I am all about hyping fights but don’t be two-faced. I prefer to fight and train emotionally. If I like an opponent or respect him, I tend not to do as well as I would if I felt I owed them a beating. I was already motivated, but now I want to really put on a show.”
Final predictions:
“Vitor has one or two rounds to beat me – or try to hit me behind the head – and then his gas tank will be empty and the fight will look like Rocky vs. that dead cow.
I’m going to force him to fight at a pace he couldn’t even fight at in his early 20s. He’s going to be miserable in there.”
