“Vitor is out its true.” And with five simple words, one of the most anticipated fights of 2010 will not take place. UFC President Dana White tweeted those words today, confirming the UFC middleweight title fight between champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva (25-4) and Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort (19-8), which was scheduled as the main event for UFC 112 on April 10 in Abu Dhabi, has been cancelled.
According to incoming reports, Belfort suffered a shoulder injury during training. Jayme Sandall, a student of Belfort, told Tatame.com, “He was training but not using the arm for a long time because of the injury, he said he’d stop for a while,” commented Sandall. “He said he’d have it scanned to know how bad it is, but I don’t talk with him for 15 days and I don’t know about the results.”
Belfort, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, returned to the UFC in 2009 with a first round TKO stoppage of Rich Franklin. It was Belfort’s first Octagon appearance in four years, after back-to-back losses to Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz in 2005.
With Belfort out, thoughts immediately turn to Chael Sonnen (24-10-1), a Team Quest fighter, who placed himself in the middleweight number one contender spot this past weekend with his utter destruction of Nate Marquardt at UFC 109. The only problem is, following the fight with Marquardt, Sonnen was placed on medical suspension until April 24, with no contact until April 9.
The next in line for Silva would most likely be Demain Maia, who also fought this past weekend, and was also placed on medical suspension until he has his left vertical upper eyelid laceration cleared by an ophthalmologist (or an ocular-plastics). If Maia can get the laceration on his eyelid cleared, a good competitive bout with Anderson Silva at UFC 112 could still be salvaged.
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With no Belfort and no Maia to face Silva for the middleweight title on April 10, the UFC is left with a few possibilities:
a) They could have Silva move up and fight someone at light heavyweight
b) Silva could defend his middleweight title against someone who really did not earn a shot
or
c) Silva could to sit out until Sonnen or Maia gets healthy
Which would you prefer?