Vitor Belfort Never Quits

Have you heard the news? Vitor Belfort is returning to the UFC!!!

Now that Affliction has folded, many fighters from the canceled Trilogy event are finding other promotions to compete in, and one of those big names is Vitor Belfort.

For the first time in over four years, Belfort will be returning to the UFC. He will fight in September's UFC 103, replacing Dan Henderson in the fight against Rich Franklin. Belfort and Franklin will be competing at a catchweight of 195 lbs, which should work well for both fighters.

Being a big fan of Vitor Belfort, I decided to take you back to the greatest, most memorable, and even the saddest moments of The Phenom while he was fighting in the UFC, Pride FC, and two Affliction events. He has certainly stood out over the years for his amazing speed and power.

We all hope to see Belfort’s explosiveness when he returns to the UFC once again.

Vitor Belfort's 1997 UFC Debut

A Gracie Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Carlson Gracie, Vitor Belfort had his first sanctioned mma match at an event called Superbrawl in Hawaii, where he got a 12-second KO win against Jon Hess.

After this, the 19-year-old Belfort made his UFC debut in February of 1997 against Lion's Den fighter Tra "Trauma" Telligman.

The first minute of this fight is unbelievable. Vitor makes a great impression when he pins Telligman to the cage and throws four really fast punches in a row—so fast that you have to slow down the tape frame by frame to see each punch, because this happens in under two seconds.

After more lightning-fast punches, the fight ends on the ground, Vitor on top of Telligman, repeatedly elbowing him until referee Big John McCarthy stops the fight.

Vitor Belfort wins by TKO in 1 min 17 secs.
(And UFC fans ain't seen nothin' yet.)

That same day, Vitor goes on to fight Scott Ferrozzo. Vitor takes Scott's back and ends the fight in 43 seconds. Needless to say, Scott never fought anywhere ever again.

Vitor wins the UFC 12 heavyweight tournament, and shows a lot of potential for success in the UFC.

Vitor Belfort vs. Tank Abbott

In May of 1997, Vitor Belfort fought Tank Abbott for 52 seconds. It didn't take long for Vitor to beat Abbott and make it look easy.

Tank Abbott already had 3 UFC wins by the time he fought Vitor, but when you watch this fight it looks like none of Abbott's experience had prepared him to take on Belfort's speed and agility.

The next few years in Vitor’s career are marked by great wins, as well as great pain. He fights Randy Couture, Wanderlei Silva, goes on to fight in Japan, and signs a contract with Pride in 1999.

Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei Silva --Yeah, THAT fight!

Longtime UFC fans always remember this fight.

If you've never seen this fight in your life, open a new window in your internet browser and watch it. NOW!! (http://www.wat.tv/video/vitor-belfort-vs-wanderlei-q4ac_okbe_.html)

This is THE fight everyone still talks about when Vitor Belfort's name is mentioned. Just...go watch it. I never get tired of seeing the clip, and I wish I'd been there to see it in person.

Vitor really flies off the handle in this one. His fists are literally flying at Wanderlei Silva so fast that all he can do is fall back without defending himself.

Wandy falls back all the way across the octagon, and the fight ends in an astonishing 44 seconds. This flurry of punches is what made Vitor Belfort a "phenom" known for having the fastest hands in the UFC. And it was definitely true for a long time.

Wanderlei (the "Axe Murderer") certainly recovered from this upsetting loss, but man oh man... it is something mma fans never forget.

Personal Pain: Vitor’s Sister is Kidnapped

On Jan. 9, 2004, Vitor's sister, Priscilla Belfort was kidnapped in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

No ransom demands were made, and police had no leads for a long time.

Obviously, losing a loved one takes a big toll on a person’s emotional and mental state, and this pain is exacerbated when you don’t know the whereabouts of a member of your family.

Clearly, interviews with Vitor Belfort during this time showed that his sister’s kidnapping was devastating him emotionally.

The kidnapping happened just three weeks before Vitor’s next fight, which would be against Randy Couture in UFC 46. It was a big question whether or not he would be ready to fight, but come Jan. 31, he was in the octagon competing for the light heavyweight title in the UFC.

Vitor's family in Brazil relied on his financial support, and therefore needed him to keep fighting through his grief.

Two years later, in February of 2006, a man directly involved in Priscilla’s disappearance was arrested and an investigation involving a weapons-trafficking gang and cocaine dealers ensued.

Then, in August of 2007 a woman (identified as Elaine Paiva) confessed that she participated in Priscilla’s killing in order to pay off a $4,000 debt Paiva had with drug dealers. Paiva was arrested along with three others.

Belfort vs. Couture (3x)

In UFC 15, 20-year-old Vitor takes on 34-year-old Randy Couture, who had debuted in the UFC just two months after Vitor, and won the heavyweight tournament at UFC 13.

In his first fight against Couture, Vitor loses his four-fight winning streak in what announcer Bruce Beck called "a stunning upset."

Then, six years later in January of 2004, Randy Couture and Vitor Belfort meet again at UFC 46. It was a fight that fans had been waiting a long time to see, because Vitor had been busy fighting in Pride FC for a while between 1999 and 2001.

This rematch ended 49 seconds into the first round due to a medical stoppage. Vitor was declared the winner, but it was a bittersweet victory. Unfortunately, Vitor’s glove had caught Randy’s left eye just right and sliced Randy’s cornea on the very first punch he threw.

It was definitely a nasty cut, with blood coming out of Randy’s eyeball and all.

Finally, in August of 2004, Couture and Belfort fought a third time in UFC 49’s “Unfinished Business” event. This time, the shoe was on the other foot, when Couture won due to medical stoppage in the third round. Vitor got a cut over his left eye from a headbutt delivered by Couture.

Who would have guessed that Vitor would be training at Xtreme Couture now?

Vitor vs. Tito

Okay, I’ve never really been a fan of Tito Ortiz, although I am highly entertained by his fights and drama outside the octagon, so I’ll try to keep this slide short.

Vitor has been proving himself in the UFC since February of 1997. Tito Ortiz started his mma career in the following UFC event, after Belfort. They are both around the same age—actually, Vitor is two years younger than Tito.

Yet Tito got the star treatment, becoming the UFC’s poster boy for everything at the time, and Vitor was not. They are both badasses, there’s no denying that.

But I have a slight resentment against Tito (which may be a little misplaced, admittedly) because mma fans have been known to hate the “foreigner” first and back the American fighter without question.

Also, Tito’s disrespect for his opponents irked me.

When Tito and Vitor finally fought each other in UFC 51, people talked about how Ortiz beat Belfort down, showed him up, etc… and I thought it was actually a pretty close fight. Split decision, hello. Anyway, that’s what I wanted to point out.

PRIDE victories

While fighting in Pride, Vitor won against Gilbert Yvel, Daijiro Matsui, Bobby Southworth, Heath Herring, and Yoshiki Takahashi.

His first loss in Pride prompted him to switch from training with Carlson Gracie to training at Brazilian Top Team. Since the switch, Vitor’s fighting style went from heavy boxing and standup to a different method of controlling his fights and going to ground and pound.

Us fans all fall for “the old Vitor” time after time, and it’s probably because we always remember that quick knockout against Takahashi.

Affliction Victories

Although short-lived, Belfort’s victories in Affliction really restored fans’ confidence in Vitor.

Vitor’s first fight in Affliction: Banned against Terry Martin was awesome. He got a second round KO by landing a flying knee and following up with an uppercut straight-left combination. I recommend seeing a replay of this.

Vitor’s second middleweight fight at Affliction: Day of Reckoning was even better. He defeated Matt Lindland in 37 seconds by KO from a series of powerful shots to the jaw as Lindland hit the ground. That had to be one of the most exciting moments of the night.

UFC 103

UFC 103 is in Vitor's future.

Will we see him continue his winning streak from Affliction?

I only have one thing to say....

Marvin Eastman

Rich Franklin better be ready to fight the man who did this to Marvin Eastman.

Viva Vitor!

In conclusion: read my sign. :o)

Thanks for viewing my slide show!
Comments are welcome.