Tag: Vitor Belfort videos

On This Day in MMA History: The New Old Vitor Belfort TKO’s Rich Franklin at UFC 103

If not for the PED controversies that have plagued him since 2006, Vitor Belfort would be one of the most inspirational figures in MMA history. We’re talking about a fighter who picked himself up after each high-profile defeat and kept clawing his way forward, who started his career as a young destroyer at heavyweight, then reinvented himself as a light-heavyweight when that didn’t work out, then reinvented himself as a middleweight when that didn’t work out, then floated anywhere between 185 and 205 pounds depending on what the moment called for.

This December, after more than 18 years in the sport (!), the 37-year-old Belfort will challenge Chris Weidman in a middleweight title fight at UFC 181. The fight represents yet another career peak for Belfort, and will define his third stint in the UFC, which began five years ago today — September 19th, 2009 — when Belfort TKO’d Rich Franklin at UFC 103.

Heading into the fight, Belfort was enjoying the kind of momentum that had been rare in his career. Following his decision loss to Dan Henderson (and positive steroid test) at PRIDE 32, Belfort won a pair of fights under the Cage Rage banner — becoming the promotion’s light-heavyweight champion in the process — then dropped to middleweight and brutally KO’d Terry Martin and Matt Lindland in Affliction. Shortly after Affliction’s ugly demise, the UFC re-signed Belfort and booked him for a 195-pound catchweight fight against former middleweight champ Rich Franklin, who had gone back up to compete at light-heavyweight and 195 lbs. (aka “Franklinweight”) since his second loss to Anderson Silva. Fun fact from the UFC 103 wiki page:

It was announced on July 20, 2009 that Rich Franklin would headline UFC 103 against Dan Henderson. It was then announced on July 31, 2009 that fans were not happy with the announced headliner of Henderson-Franklin 2 so they changed the main event to feature Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort. “Fans didn’t like it, so we changed it,” White said.

I only vaguely remember this moment in UFC history where fan sentiment could actually influence which fights get made. Now, we pretty much have to eat what they give us.

If not for the PED controversies that have plagued him since 2006, Vitor Belfort would be one of the most inspirational figures in MMA history. We’re talking about a fighter who picked himself up after each high-profile defeat and kept clawing his way forward, who started his career as a young destroyer at heavyweight, then reinvented himself as a light-heavyweight when that didn’t work out, then reinvented himself as a middleweight when that didn’t work out, then floated anywhere between 185 and 205 pounds depending on what the moment called for.

This December, after more than 18 years in the sport (!), the 37-year-old Belfort will challenge Chris Weidman in a middleweight title fight at UFC 181. The fight represents yet another career peak for Belfort, and will define his third stint in the UFC, which began five years ago today — September 19th, 2009 — when Belfort TKO’d Rich Franklin at UFC 103.

Heading into the fight, Belfort was enjoying the kind of momentum that had been rare in his career. Following his decision loss to Dan Henderson (and positive steroid test) at PRIDE 32, Belfort won a pair of fights under the Cage Rage banner — becoming the promotion’s light-heavyweight champion in the process — then dropped to middleweight and brutally KO’d Terry Martin and Matt Lindland in Affliction. Shortly after Affliction’s ugly demise, the UFC re-signed Belfort and booked him for a 195-pound catchweight fight against former middleweight champ Rich Franklin, who had gone back up to compete at light-heavyweight and 195 lbs. (aka “Franklinweight”) since his second loss to Anderson Silva. Fun fact from the UFC 103 wiki page:

It was announced on July 20, 2009 that Rich Franklin would headline UFC 103 against Dan Henderson. It was then announced on July 31, 2009 that fans were not happy with the announced headliner of Henderson-Franklin 2 so they changed the main event to feature Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort. “Fans didn’t like it, so we changed it,” White said.

I only vaguely remember this moment in UFC history where fan sentiment could actually influence which fights get made. Now, we pretty much have to eat what they give us.

Belfort vs. Franklin served as the main event of a wild UFC 103 pay-per-view card in which all five scheduled matches ended by stoppage. Notably, Josh Koscheck punched Frank Trigg’s head off, Paul Daley scored a vicious standing TKO against Martin Kampmann, and Junior Dos Santos battered Mirko Cro Cop until the Croatian quit in the third round due to an eye injury.

The headliner was just as violent. After sparring with Franklin for the first half of the opening round, Belfort bounced an overhand left across the top of Ace’s head, dropping Franklin to the canvas. The finishing blows were ferocious and untamed — at least two of which landed squarely on the back of Franklin’s head. And sure, if we wanted to follow the Unified Rules to the letter, maybe Belfort should have lost the fight by disqualification. On the other hand…VITOR vs. ANDERSON??? As questionable as the victory was, a genuinely viable challenger to Anderson Silva was the best possible outcome.

And what a challenger Belfort was. What a story. The young man who couldn’t quite live up to his fearsome potential, traveling the globe trying to find himself, and returning to the Octagon as a 32-year-old somehow carrying the speed and power of his youth, but now with an added maturity blah blah blah or something like that.

Then, he got highlight-reel KO’d by Anderson. Then, he became the poster boy for testosterone replacement therapy. Belfort’s late-career achievements while on TRT were enough to earn him yet another title fight in the year 2014, except now he’ll have to compete without it, and he might not look like the same person. Personally, I expect to see a depleted, deflated version of Vitor Belfort enter the cage on December 6th.

But my God, what if he wins? Then, Belfort becomes mythical, the Roy Hobbs of MMA. The fighter who died and was reborn — a few times, actually — before achieving the greatest victory of his career. Like I said, an inspirational figure. Who would believe a story like that?

(BG)

[VIDEO] Vitor Belfort Is a ‘Values Enforcer’ in This Super Creepy Church-Promo

Vitor Belfort: The Values Enforcer from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

As we all know, UFC moneyweight Vitor Belfort is down with Jesus. We’re cool with that. Whatever gets you through the night and helps you be kind to people during the day, is our motto (oh, you didn’t know that about Cagepotato?). Plus, it’s fun to laugh at Michael Bisping getting Bible-thumped by Belfort after mocking the Brazilian’s faith.

That said, a new promotional video for a North Carolina mega-church that features Vitor Belfort is pretty damn creepy. In the video, the church abducts parishioners who are not paying enough attention during church services, blindfolds them, sticks them in a van (cultish enough for you, yet?) only to drop them off in the center of a cage with the Phenom himself.

Belfort is dubbed a “values enforcer,” which is the type of term we all should be a little wary of, even in jest, especially coming out of the deep South. In any case, Vitor treats us all to some amazing acting and those spiritually deficient church-goers are scared straight and are presumably returned to their church more obedient than ever before.


Vitor Belfort: The Values Enforcer from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

As we all know, UFC moneyweight Vitor Belfort is down with Jesus. We’re cool with that. Whatever gets you through the night and helps you be kind to people during the day, is our motto (oh, you didn’t know that about Cagepotato?). Plus, it’s fun to laugh at Michael Bisping getting Bible-thumped by Belfort after mocking the Brazilian’s faith.

That said, a new promotional video for a North Carolina mega-church that features Vitor Belfort is pretty damn creepy. In the video, the church abducts parishioners who are not paying enough attention during church services, blindfolds them, sticks them in a van (cultish enough for you, yet?) only to drop them off in the center of a cage with the Phenom himself.

Belfort is dubbed a “values enforcer,” which is the type of term we all should be a little wary of, even in jest, especially coming out of the deep South. In any case, Vitor treats us all to some amazing acting and those spiritually deficient church-goers are scared straight and are presumably returned to their church more obedient than ever before.

Yay.

Alright, maybe we’re just going extra hard on this because the church in question has a profiteering pastor who has become a millionaire off of his particular dorky brand of rock evangelism. Maybe that’s why they could afford to hire Belfort to do this video.

Or, perhaps Belfort was convinced to do it for free because it was for a church. In which case, oh Vitor…we know that your faith has taken you from being a toe-sucking hedonist to a presumably still toe-sucking family man, but show some discretion with who you support, homie.

– Elias Cepeda

Classic Fight: The Old Vitor Belfort Destroys Tank Abbott at UFC 13

(Phenom vs. Tank, 5/30/97. Props: UFCVitorVBelfort)

In their continuing efforts to convince you that Vitor Belfort has at least a puncher’s chance against Jon Jones at UFC 152, the UFC has just made the Vitor Belfort vs. Tank Abbott fight from UFC 13 available on YouTube. Just 20 years old at the time, Belfort had made his Octagon debut three months prior at UFC 12, winning the four-man heavyweight bracket in a combined fight time of two minutes. Belfort’s subsequent “superfight” against Abbott — still a somewhat legitimate competitor back then — turned out to be another blitzkrieg. In just 52 seconds, it was all over.

But even more so than the overwhelming striking performance from the Phenom, I think my favorite part of this video is 3:30-3:41, where Belfort calls out for his beloved trainer “Stankie,” and we get a glimpse at a younger (but still pretty old) Al Stankiewicz. Then, we see that Stankie’s hands are wrapped as if he was going to fight that night. Classic.

In a related story, betting odds for Jones vs. Belfort have calmed down somewhat, and the champ is being offered as low as -740. You can also turn $100 into $12,000 if you bet that the fight will be a draw, and the fight actually turns out to be a draw. I’m just saying. What were going to do with that $100 anyway, you know?


(Phenom vs. Tank, 5/30/97. Props: UFCVitorVBelfort)

In their continuing efforts to convince you that Vitor Belfort has at least a puncher’s chance against Jon Jones at UFC 152, the UFC has just made the Vitor Belfort vs. Tank Abbott fight from UFC 13 available on YouTube. Just 20 years old at the time, Belfort had made his Octagon debut three months prior at UFC 12, winning the four-man heavyweight bracket in a combined fight time of two minutes. Belfort’s subsequent “superfight” against Abbott — still a somewhat legitimate competitor back then — turned out to be another blitzkrieg. In just 52 seconds, it was all over.

But even more so than the overwhelming striking performance from the Phenom, I think my favorite part of this video is 3:30-3:41, where Belfort calls out for his beloved trainer “Stankie,” and we get a glimpse at a younger (but still pretty old) Al Stankiewicz. Then, we see that Stankie’s hands are wrapped as if he was going to fight that night. Classic.

In a related story, betting odds for Jones vs. Belfort have calmed down somewhat, and the champ is being offered as low as -740. You can also turn $100 into $12,000 if you bet that the fight will be a draw, and the fight actually turns out to be a draw. I’m just saying. What were going to do with that $100 anyway, you know?