What’s the story?
Vitor ‘The Phenom’ Belfort has fought and defeated some of the greatest MMA fighters of all times. He has also registered a win over the current UFC Middleweight Champion Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping, when they met in the Octagon back in 2013, at UFC on FX 7 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The fight ended with ‘The Phenom’ landing a highlight reel head kick that knocked Bisping’s lights out.
Vitor Belfort is offering the Champion Bisping a rematch, giving him a chance to avenge the knockout. While speaking to Combate, ‘The Phenom’ expressed that he is not happy with Michael Bisping as the champion,
“He’s a slacker, he wants to fight with a guy from the bottom category. I give you the rematch, leave the belt at home and come fight me.”
In case you didn’t know...
‘The Count’ has a professional MMA record of 31-7-0. He has finished 21 of his 31 fights, with none of his bouts requiring the judges until his 2007 win against Matt Hamil.
Vitor Belfort has a professional MMA record of 25-12-0, with 18 wins by KO. At 39 years old, he has been in the business for more than 20 years. He was the coach of the first season of TUF brazil against Wanderlei Silva.
The heart of the matter
The last time Vitor and Bisping faced each other, it was a very high-stakes match for the current Middleweight Champion. He had everything to lose, a win over ‘The Phenom’ could have landed Bisping a UFC title shot back then, which he was waiting for ever since he won TUF 3.
In that fight, ‘The Count’ could not defend himself against the vicious kicks from Belfort. Soon ‘The Phenom’ had Bisping on the mat with a highlight reel knockout. Now after 4 years, Vitor Belfort is offering a rematch, as he seems unhappy with the reign of Michael Bisping as the Middleweight champion.
However, this seems unlikely if Bisping’s reported injury is true.
Also read: Michael Bisping injured, ruled out for five months
What’s next?
‘The Phenom’ has lost his previous two fights in the UFC and is getting ready to face TUF 17 winner Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Fight Night 107. Gastelum has predicted a first round knockout against the legend.
Sportskeeda’s take
Vitor Belfort has been in MMA for a long period now and has faced many Champions in his career. He faced and destroyed Bisping four years ago. Now ‘The Count’ is the UFC Middleweight champion and Belfort feels he can defeat him again.
However, as mentioned earlier, Bisping’s reported injury could be one of the factors, that stops this bout from taking place.
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