UFC 126: With a Win Over Silva, Can Vitor Belfort Silence the MMA Community?

Tomorrow night, at UFC 126, Vitor Belfort has the chance of a lifetime, when he faces middleweight kingpin Anderson "The Spider" Silva for the UFC middleweight title.  

For years, we've had many people question the mental status of Belfort and saying how that he's got all the talent to be the best fighter in the world, but it's his brain that gets in the way.

I personally think Belfort is a great fighter, but these seem to be unrealistic excuses for his losses.

Most of Belfort's losses came at the hands of some of the greatest fighters in the sport of MMA; with losses to fighters such as Alistair Overeem, Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture.

To say that Belfort lost because of his mind, is an insult to those fighters who worked their butts off to defeat such a great fighter.

Belfort suffered a horrible tragedy with his sister, and nobody can ever imagine what Belfort went through, but we don't know what he was thinking because we're not mind-readers.  

His mental status could've been fine for fights, and allowed himself to get depressed when he wasn't training.  We don't know, and a lot of us should be more humble on the subject of Belfort's mental status.

Most of us love Belfort, and so many of us have given him these reasons for losing because we're fans.  It's great to support a fighter, but to discredit other fighters' accomplishments is a bit ridiculous.

Right now, we're hearing a new wave of reasons for Belfort's loss already (to a fight that hasn't happened yet), with the long layoff.  While a layoff could play a factor, we really don't know.

I believe that this Belfort isn't a new Belfort, he isn't the old Belfort and isn't the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz that needs a brain, he's just a talented fighter.

His style matches up so well with Anderson, that this has become really a pick 'em fight.

While Belfort may or may not be the best fighter in the world, if he can defeat Anderson Silva, he can silence all the doubt of the MMA fans and pundits.  All the questions of Belfort's mental status will have been shrugged off like a bad case of fleas.