During a TUF 9 Finale commercial break, Amir Sadollah interviewed UFC president Dana White for an “Inside the Octagon” segment. In the interview, Dana White said that he is considering signing former UFC light heavyweight champion, Vitor Belfort for a middleweight title fight with current UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva.
“While he [Anderson Silva] is fighting Forrest, I’m working on some other 185 pounders,” White said. “Vitor Belfort – he is a former heavyweight who moved down to 205. Now he’s at 185 pounds. He’s got great hands, he’s good on the ground, and if his head is right, he can be a dangerous, dangerous guy. I think that would be a great match up.”
As many may remember, back in April, Dana White told Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports that he was working on signing a middleweight fighter that “would blow your mind”. Could Belfort be the “mind blowing” middleweight White spoke of? Fans will have to wait and see.
Belfort is currently under contract with Affliction Entertainment and is scheduled to fight Jorge Santiago on August 1t at “Affliction: Trilogy”. Coincidentally, or maybe not quite so coincidentally, it is the last fight of Belfort’s contract with Affliction.
One person that has taken notice to White’s comments is Affliction Entertainment Vice President, Tom Atencio. “He [White] did say something [about Belfort],” Atencio told 5thRound.com. “I’m talking to Vitor’s management, so we’re in negotiations. Where Dana came up with that, I don’t know. Maybe he’s just trying to stir the pot. That’s what he does and he does it well.”
“Maybe he wants to get hit with a tampering charge,” Atencio said, referring to other major sports rules, where, if a team owner openly discusses wanting a player currently contracted to another team, that owner would get fined for tampering. “I just don’t know, I can’t speak for Dana. I’m sure he just wants to stir the pot, like I said.”
If his recent 37 second destruction of Matt Lindland at “Affliction 2: Day of Reckoning” is a sign of where Belfort’s head is at, Belfort would definitely make a great addition to the UFC’s middleweight division, as well as being a legitimate title contender almost immediately. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, if at all.
By: Jeff Howard