Vitor Belfort: Potential Never Fully Realized

Back in the days when weight class didn’t matter Vitor Belfort reigned supreme. At the age of 19, the young Brazilian came to the United States to compete.

In his first sanctioned mixed martial arts match, he defeated his opponent Jon Hess in 12 seconds by KO. John Hess was 6’7 and weighed in at 295lbs. It was John’s second fight in mixed martial arts and subsequently his last.

In Vitor’s next professional fight he moved up in weight class if you will. He took on Scott Ferrozzo who tipped the scales at just over 320lbs. Belfort TKOed him in just 43 seconds.

Vitor was promptly given the nickname “The Phenom” and this young prodigy’s reputation reached a fever pitch when he knocked Tank Abbot down and proceeded to ground & pound the 250lb pitfighter until Big John McCarthy pulled Belfort off.

In three of his first four professional fights Vitor defeated nearly 900lbs in less then 2 minutes. The young “phenom” looked unstoppable and a legendary career was in the making.

Vitor Belfort was three months shy of his twenty-first birthday when he stepped into the ring with Randy Couture at UFC 15. In a recent interview Randy commented about the fight which may have set the tone for both fighters’ careers.

"Looking at a guy across the ring I can see it in their eyes sometimes," Couture said.

"The first time I fought Belfort he stalled coming out. In my mind, I was like; he's scared, he didn't want to come out here. And when he got in the ring, he had that look in his eye like he didn't really want to be there. All of those things fed my confidence in the fight."

Couture went on to beat Belfort via TKO in a performance that established him as one of the up-and-coming stars in a burgeoning sport known as mixed martial arts.

Seven years later, they had their rematch at UFC 46. While Belfort won via TKO, it was stopped short due to a cut Couture suffered when a seam from Belfort’s glove caught Randy's eye, prompting the referee stoppage.

They had their rubber match at UFC 49, which Couture won by TKO due to doctor’s stoppage.

Personally, I feel these fights took their psychological toll on the man once tabbed as “The Phenom.”

In between his fights with “The Natural” Vitor did had several high profile fights.

His made quick work of a young Brazilian named Wanderlei Silva, again via TKO. Ironically, Silva went on to have a career with the magnitude that many thought Belfort might have had.

After his loss to Belfort, Silva went on to win 23 of his next 25 fights including wins over Dan Henderson & Sakuraba, two fighters Belfort couldn’t beat.

Belfort went on to lose his next fight to the "The Gracie Hunter" Kazushi Sakuraba. Apparently Sakuraba tormented not only the Gracie’s, but their students as well, seeing that Belfort received his black belt in BJJ from Carlson Gracie.

Belfort also had his shot against UFC superstars like Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lost both of those fights by decision.

After the loss to Ortiz, Belfort went on to lose two of his next three fights to current Dream Heavyweight Alistair Overeem. Vitor was even able to sneak in a loss to Dan Henderson, in his last fight with Pride.

Looking back over Belfort’s career one might wonder if the young prodigy peeked mentally in his fight against Tank Abbot. While he went on to fight some of best fighter’s the world of MMA has seen he was never able to win against a top level opponent (unless you count his win over a young Wanderlei).

Now, at the age of 31, Vitor has been given a second lease on his fight life. Affliction has given him the opportunity to redefine the perception of his “second tier” career.

His KO win over Terry Martin showed us glimpses of the young phenom. And while Terry Martin isn’t what you’d call world class competition, it was a good start.

Another good move on his part was deciding to train with Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. After the fight Randy Couture said Vitor was thinking about moving to Las Vegas and training at Xtreme Couture full time.

Apparently, Randy now sees something more promising then what he saw in Vitor's eyes back at UFC 15.

And now there is strong talk of a fight with Gerard Mousasi, winner of Dream’s middleweight Grand Prix and newly minted champion.

The world of mixed martial arts has come along way since Vitor was knocking out men 100lbs heavier then himself. Mousasi looks to be a part of that “new bread” of MMA fighter. At the ripe old age of 23, Gerard has already compiled a “career worthy” record of 24-2-1. His first professional fight was at the age of 17!

The sky is the limit for this young yet seasoned phenom. How fitting this fight would seem.

So to earn his second lease on life Vitor will have to take out this young phenom. And if he doesn’t, then Belfort can add Mousasi’s name to a list of fighters who used their fight with Vitor to go on and accomplish bigger and better things with their career.

Things Belfort would seem destined not to do.