UFC president Dana White may not think Vitor Belfort deserves a rematch against Anderson Silva, but “The Phenom” thinks he should get another shot at the middleweight championship.
Belfort took on “The Spider” at UFC 126 in February 2011 , but lasted less than two minutes in the Octagon with the champion, who knocked him out with a front kick and punches at 3:25 in the first round.
“The hard position that Vitor is in is when you talk about a rematch for him, it’s like, [Silva] kicked him in the face in the first 60 seconds in one of the most devastating knockouts of all-time,” White said. “So when you go back to Anderson Silva, who’s in the twilight of his career, and you say to a guy like Anderson, ‘Eh, what about Vitor?’ He’d say, ‘I annihilated Vitor. I made it look like Vitor isn’t even a fighter we should have been fighting.’”
But Belfort doesn’t think a fight that happened over two years ago should stand in the way of him getting another title shot.
“I have proven myself over and over. It seems that Anderson wants to go on and do superfights or whatever, but how can he think of doing a superfight right now when he has a contender of my caliber waiting to compete for the belt,” Belfort said. “I have no problem with superfights, as long as they don’t tie up the belt from other great contenders who deserve a chance to accomplish the greatest moments of their career. But nobody should be able to strip me of the dreams that God gave me and that I have worked so hard to achieve.”
Belfort also pointed to the trilogy between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos as an example of fighters who have suffered crushing losses, but still got a shot at the title.
“Think about this: Cain got knocked out in a devastating loss to ‘Cigano,’ and after one fight he gets another title shot. Then after being massacred by Velasquez for five rounds, now ‘Cigano’ gets another chance for the title,” Belfort said. “In order for a rematch to take place, the champion must accept a challenge. Both Cigano and Velasquez accepted. But I, on the other hand, crushed all the contenders that were put in front of me, and it seems that I have earned nothing, not even the respect I deserve for all I have done for the sport.”
Belfort is 23-10 in his 17-year MMA career. Since returning to the UFC after a four-year hiatus in 2009, he has only lost twice — his second loss was to light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at UFC 152 in September 2012. He has won both of his fights since then, both of which were headliners. He defeated Michael Bisping by TKO at 1:27 in the second round at UFC on FX: Belfort vs. Bisping in January, and knocked out Luke Rockhold at 2:32 in the first round at UFC on FX: Belfort vs. Rockhold.
“My spot is the highest of any division contender in the UFC,” Belfort said. “And it is only logical and fair for me to be given a shot at the title.”
Do you think Vitor Belfort should have another shot at the middleweight championship?