Gegard Mousasi Reportedly Willing to Replace Chris Weidman, Fight Vitor Belfort

Fresh off one of the most high-profile victories of his career, Gegard Mousasi apparently wants to keep the momentum rolling with a fight that would undoubtedly be the biggest of his fighting life: a date with Vitor Belfort.

After UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman was forced to pull out of his title defense against Belfort at UFC 184, Mousasi volunteered to step in and face the Brazilian challenger, according to a tweet from the guy himself: 

"

If I can fight @vitorbelfort I will beat him and become the @ufc #1 Contender.

— Gegard Mousasi (@mousasi_mma) January 31, 2015"

On Jan. 24 in the co-main event of UFC on Fox 14, Mousasi (36-5-2) handed 44-year-old veteran Dan Henderson a first-round TKO defeat. It was the fifth loss in six contests for Henderson and moved Mousasi to 3-2 since he joined the UFC in 2013.

Andre Penner/Associated Press

Mousasi, 29, has long been considered a talented fighter who was—because of lackadaisical training or other reasons—never quite able to put it all together in big fights. However, it appears he may be turning a corner at this stage of his career. Though his UFC record is not glamorous, his only two losses came to Lyoto Machida and Ronaldo Souza, two of the top contenders in the stacked middleweight division.

Belfort is on a bit of a streak of his own, having won each of his last three fights, and all three of them by knockout. However, this fight would take place at middleweight, while his recent contests happened at light heavyweight.

UFC 184 is scheduled to go down on Feb. 28. UFC officials have made no official statement about whether Belfort will remain on the card or who might potentially replace Weidman. 

In a report by Brazilian website Tatame (h/t Bloody Elbow's Fernando Arbex) Belfort's camp previously indicated that they would be interested in facing an opponent with a style similar to Weidman's. Mark Munoz, Yoel Romero and Souza came up as possibilities.