Emotional, Vitor Belfort cries after defeat and asks for farewell at UFC Rio

Vitor belfort I hoped to make peace with the victory, this Saturday (11), against Kelvin Gastelum in the main fight of UFC Fortaleza. But the knockout defeat against the North American shook the “Phenomenon”.

Visibly sad and with tears in his eyes, Belfort spoke about his history in the sport and revealed his desire to end his career at home, at UFC 212, in Rio de Janeiro, in July.

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“Kelvin is an excellent fighter. He hit me with a blow I didn't expect. Now it's time to change sides, I've already done a lot for the sport. I have one more fight on my contract and I want to fight in Rio de Janeiro. I've already delivered a lot here. I want to at least do this fight more”, said the Brazilian.

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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