Belfort rules out farewell fight against Brazilian. Photo: SUPER FIGHTS
Vitor belfort announced that he intends to hang up his gloves in 2017. After suffering the third consecutive defeat against Kelvin Gastelum, at UFC Fortaleza, the Brazilian asked to have his farewell fight at UFC Rio, in July. Despite fans' desire for a rematch against Anderson Silva, the “Phenomenon” ruled out this possibility.
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At the press conference after the duel in Fortaleza, Belfort revealed that he does not have a specific opponent for his farewell fight, but Belfort said he does not want to face any Brazilian athlete at UFC Rio.
“I don't have names at the top of my mind. I just don't want to fight a Brazilian in Brazil. We have to sit down with the UFC and see which opponents would be an interesting fight. I've never ruled out fights, I've always faced the toughest in the division, but the last fight has to be special for the fans. Let’s see if this is possible”, said Vitor.
Vitor Belfort's career
Vitor belfort, 39 years old, has an MMA career of 25 wins and 14 losses. He started in the sport at 19 and at 20 he won the UFC GP in the heavyweight division, defeating three opponents on the same day. The feat earned him the nickname “Phenomenon” for his achievement at such a young age.
In 2004, at UFC 46, he defeated Randy Couture and took the light heavyweight belt, the greatest moment of his career. Since then, Vitor has had three chances to regain the Ultimate belt, but he ended up defeated.
In the middleweight division, Belfort faced Anderson Silva at UFC 126, in 2011, and was knocked out in the first round, in what was called 'the fight of the century'. Back at light heavyweight, Vitor accepted the challenge of replacing the injured Dan Henderson and face the legend Jon Jones with very little preparation time. And despite almost submitting his rival at the beginning of the fight, he was defeated by the champion.
After scoring a string of devastating knockouts against names like Dan Henderson, Michael Bisping e Luke Rockhold, Belfort once again had the chance to fight for the middleweight belt against Chris Weidman. At UFC 187, in 2013, the North American took down the Brazilian and with several punches on the ground he won and thwarted Vitor's plans
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