UFC officials have announced that they will hold an event on January 19th in Brazil. The main event will feature a middleweight bout between UFC middleweights Michael Bisping and Vitor Belfort. The venue and the city that will host the event will be announced in the next few weeks.
Michael Bisping (23-4) is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Brian Stann at UFC 152. Bisping has won five of his last six fights with the lone loss coming against Chael Sonnen, a fight he took on less than two weeks notice. Bisping would be extremely close to a title shot against Anderson Silva should he get past Belfort in a hostile environment.
Vitor Belfort (21-10) is coming off a submission loss against UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at UFC 152. It was Belfort’s first fight at light heavyweight in years, and he will no be returning to the UFC middleweight division. Belfort had won back-to-back fights as a middleweight prior to the loss to Jones.
This event will be the fourth UFC event in Brazil since August 2011. The tentative fight card can be found below:
Main Card
- Vitor Belfort vs Michael Bisping
- C.B. Dollaway vs Daniel Sarafian
- Ben Rothwell vs Gabriel “Napão” Gonzaga
- KhabibNurmagomedov vs Thiago Tavares
Preliminary Card
- Godofredo Pepey vs Miltinho Vieira
- Andrew Craig vs Ronny Markes
- Nik Lentz vs Diego Nunes
- Justin Salas vs Edson Barboza
- Michael Kuiper vs Thiago Bodão
- George Roop vs Iuri Marajó
- Roger Hollett vs Wagner Caldeirão
- C.J. Keith vs Francisco Massaranduba