UFC 126: Top 10 UFC Fights Featuring Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort

UFC 126 takes place this Saturday from Las Vegas, and it is one of the deepest fight cards that the UFC has ever had. Every fight on the main card is a must see. This is an early contender for the event of the year, at least on paper. We won't have to wait too much longer to find out what will happen.

The event is headlined by Anderson Silva defending the middleweight championship against Vitor Belfort.

The last time that we saw Silva was at UFC 117, where he barely escaped against Chael Sonnen. It was one of the most memorable fights in UFC history, and the submission win by Silva was declared the greatest submission victory by UFC Magazine.

It's been a while since Belfort last competed inside the Octagon. His last fight was at UFC 103 in September 2009, a victory over Rich Franklin. In fact, the fight that we will see this weekend was originally supposed to take place at UFC 108. But due to injuries to Silva the fight was delayed three times.

The wait is almost over, and these two will finally lock horns in a few short days.

But before we look forward, let's take a look back at some of the best fights in these two fighters' storied careers.

Here are the top 10 fights for Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort in their UFC careers.

*Note: This list only takes into account fights in the UFC and no other MMA promotion that they might have competed for.

UFC 49: Vitor Belfort vs. Randy Couture

Vitor lost this fight, and the Light Heavyweight Championship as a result.

The second round was really great for both men. Couture took Belfort down and started pummeling him. Both guys were just covered in blood at this point, which was horrifying and pretty cool at the same time. Near the end of the round Vitor almost got an armbar locked in. He didn’t and the fight was stopped after the third round.

Not the most memorable performance from Vitor, but an awesome spectacle to behold.

UFC 77: Anderson Silva vs. Rich Franklin

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CHICAGO- OCTOBER 25: Anderson Silva prepares before the Middleweight Title Bout at UFC's Ultimate Fight Night at Allstate Arena on October 25, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

You can at least say this for Rich Franklin; the second fight against Silva went a lot better than the first one. That said, it still was not good enough to knock off The Spider.

The first fight happened at UFC 64, which Silva won about three minutes into the first round by breaking Franklin’s nose with some vicious knees. That was the fight where Silva won the Middleweight Championship.

This fight went into the second round before Silva decided to break Franklin’s nose, again. He locked him up in a clinch and just pounded Franklin’s face with his knee.

UFC 46: Vitor Belfort vs. Randy Couture

I know. The fight sucked. It was only 49 seconds, and Couture was injured going into it. But let’s be honest, Belfort doesn’t have a lot of “great” fights in UFC.

This fight was for the Light Heavyweight Championship. Nothing memorable happened. Belfort swung and grazed Couture’s eyelid, which was cut during training, and sliced open. The referee stopped the fight.

UFC 73: Anderson Silva vs. Nate Marquardt

This was Silva’s first middleweight title defense. It was originally supposed to be against Travis Lutter a few months prior, but Lutter didn’t make weight.

The fight was pretty exciting while it lasted. Silva got taken down early on in the fight, but the referee stood them back up. After that, Silva completely laid into Marquardt before the ref finally stepped in to call for a stop to the massacre.

UFC 12: Vitor Belfort vs. Scott Ferrozzo

At the ripe old age of 19, Belfort won the UFC Heavyweight Tournament.

He advanced to the finals earlier in the evening by defeating Tra Telligman via TKO. That fight lasted 77 seconds.

Determined not to be in the Octagon for that long again, Belfort completely dismantled Scott Ferrozzo in 43 seconds. Belfort pounded on Ferrozzo right from the bell, and the referee stopped it almost as soon as it began.

UFC 82: Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson

This was a championship unification bout with Silva, the UFC Middleweight Champion going against Dan Henderson, the PRIDE Middleweight Champion.

Really, this was the fight that Silva became something more than a great fighter. This was the night that he catapulted to the top of the pound-for-pound rankings.

Henderson got Silva down early on, and was landing some good shots in the first round. The second round was another story, as Silva completely unloaded on Henderson. The fight ended up on the ground, and Silva took Henderson’s back. He locked in a rear naked choke, and that was all she wrote.

UFC 13: Vitor Belfort vs. Tank Abbott

A few months after his 20^th birthday, and destruction of two fighters at UFC 12, Belfort was back at it at UFC 13.

This time, his opponent was the older and more experienced Tank Abbott. Not exactly an MMA god, Abbott got taken to school on this night by Belfort.

Once again, Belfort used his fantastic power and striking to completely overwhelm Abbott right from the get-go. The referee had no choice but to call a stop to the fight 53 seconds into it.

UFC 101: Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin

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PHILADELPHIA - AUGUST 08: (Top) Anderson Silva battles Forrest Griffin during their light heavyweight bout at UFC 101: Declaration at the Wachovia Center on August 8, 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)

This wasn’t a championship fight, but Silva took on the task of moving up in weight to fight Forrest Griffin. People thought that this might be the end of Silva’s run of dominance since he was fighting an experienced light heavyweight.

Any skeptics were quickly turned into believers as Silva knocked out Griffin three minutes into the first round.

What made this fight memorable is the way the knockout occurred. Silva was moving backwards, and he threw a jab that caught Griffin. The fight was over.

Griffin, a world class fighter, got knocked out by Silva with a jab while moving backwards.

Amazing.

UFC 43: Vitor Belfort vs. Marvin Eastman

This was the fight that launched Belfort’s career. After this fight, he was competing against guys like Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell.

Belfort had to go a little longer in this fight than he is accustomed to. The two men didn’t touch for the first 60 seconds. Then, Eastman moves in, but Belfort catches him and delivers a VICIOUS knee right to his head.

Eastman falls down in a heap and the fight is over. If you haven’t seen this fight, click here. It looks like Eastman has another eyebrow, that’s how nasty the cut is.

UFC 117: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen

This was, without question, Silva’s most memorable fight in the UFC. He was being completely manhandled by Chael Sonnen for four rounds. All that Sonnen had to do was avoid anything risky or stupid, and he would be crowned UFC Middleweight Champion.

In the fifth and final round, Sonnen had Silva on his back. Sonnen was two minutes away from pulling off what would have been the biggest upset in MMA history, but Silva pulled him into his guard and locked in a triangle.

Sonnen was trapped, and he had to tap. If it wasn’t the best fight of 2010, it certainly was the most memorable.