Vitor Belfort broke some news this week on HD Net’s Inside MMA. Vitor Belfort confirmed the date of his upcoming fight against Anderson Silva. Belfort vs. Silva for the UFC middleweight title will go down Super Bowl weekend at UFC 126 on February 5, 2011.
Plans seem to change by the week for UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Silva has had several fight changes between fighting Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen over the last several months. The fight with Belfort comes as a result of Chael Sonnen’s recent suspension for PED. The irony here is that Belfort replaces Sonnen only after Sonnen replaced Belfort to get the title shot at Silva at UFC 117.
[adinserter block=”2″]The announcement that the fight will take place at UFC 126 is news. UFC president announced that the fight would indeed be happening following the cancelation of Sonnen vs. Silva II. However, Silva came out of the UFC 117 fight against Sonnen with several injuries. While the fight was confirmed, it was still unclear whether the fight would take place on New Year’s weekend or February. The news confirms that the fight will take place in February.
While it is a bit disappointing not to be getting the Silva vs. Sonnen rematch, this is still a very good fight. Anderson Silva comes into the fight with 12 straight wins, while Vitor has a five win streak of his own. Vitor Belfort brings a dynamic to Anderson Silva that I don’t think he has ever seen as UFC middleweight champion. Belfort would unquestionably be the most dangerous striker that Silva has ever fought. He may not be Chael Sonnen but this has all of the makings of an early candidate for Fight of the Year.
The UFC Super Bowl weekend events are usually huge events. The Silva vs. Belfort main-event on such a big weekend will likely turn this show into one of the biggest grossing shows of 2011. Rich Franklin vs. Forrest Griffin, Evan Dunham vs. Kenny Florian, and Jon Jones vs. Ryan Bader are rumored fights for the show. If true, that would make UFC 126 a stacked show.
[adinserter block=”1″]All eyes will be on Anderson Silva to see how he recovers from the beating he took from Chael Sonnen. Silva was dominated for four and a half rounds at UFC 117 and if not for one of the greatest comebacks in all of sports, he would have suffered his first defeat. It was confirmed following the fight that Silva fought with injured ribs which makes his comeback even more impressive. It will be interesting to see if Silva comes out more aggressive at UFC 126, trying to silence any critics who think that The Spider may not be as lethal as he once was.
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belfort was knocking out the best in the game when he was 19, when there was no such things as weight classes…. when i seen this fight was gonna happen i got goosebumps. vitor has been training with couture so you know his ground game will be no joke. anderson is a very great fighter, but i see silva going to sleep on this one.
i agree belfort vs silva will be a good fight. silva has the hands to tear him down belfort has the hands to put him asleep and they both have a very good brazillan ju jitsu. back ground
this will be a fight not to be missed.
Firstly, im not sure which Chael Sonnen you are talking about, but the one who fought Anderson Silva just proved that he couldnt finish his dinner, let alone a decent fighter, and did nothing whatsoever to deserve another title shot. If Silva had just laid on his back and gone to sleep for 23 minutes i don't think the fight would of ended diferently. Silva needed people to see he wasn't an arrogant bully so he let Sonnen lay on him a bit then finished it whenever he wanted to. The only fight that makes sense for Silva is is Belfort unless he steps up to 205 to get his ass handed to him by Shogun.