Manager: Belfort ‘Might’ Fight Silva & Sonnen After UFC 212
Vitor Belfort has made it clear that he’ll make his last walk to the Octagon at UFC 212 on June 3, 2017 in his native Brazil when he takes on Nate Marquardt. Earlier this week, however, “The Phenom” revealed that he may continue to compete after his UFC tenure ends.
Recently speaking on the topic, Belfort’s manager, Gustavo Lacerda, said that the former champion ‘has full conditions to continue fighting’ after UFC 212:
“Technically and physically, Vitor has full conditions to continue fighting,” Lacerda recently said on the “MMA Ganhador” podcast, according to MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz. “Of course, he has the hormonal deficiency everybody knows. … But I think he lit up his fire again. We’ll go fight by fight. First, we’ll think about his fight with Nate Marquardt, and then we have more good things ahead.”
Lacerda even suggested that fights against Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen, who will fight each other in the main event of a Bellator pay-per-view (PPV) in New York City on June 24, 2017, ‘might’ be potential options for Belfort:
“What I think it’s possible to imagine is: what does the MMA fan wants? He wants to see Vitor vs. Wanderlei (Silva), wants to see Vitor vs. (Chael) Sonnen. He wants these type of fights. And it’s the type of fights that interests us. Vitor doesn’t need to prove anything regarding to ranking or title. The idea is to have fights that are interesting. Interest the fans, and interest the fighter.”
“I’m particularly crazy to see Vitor vs. Wanderlei. It’s a fight I pay to see. There are fights people want to see, and those are the fights that are interesting. Where it will be, and how it will be, I can’t say anything right now. But they might happen.”
“The Phenom” stopped Silva back at UFC Brazil in 1998 and was scheduled to rematch him in 2012, but the bout fell through. Belfort was also scheduled to face off with Sonnen in 2014, but that bout never came to fruition either. Having expressed his interest in the creation of a ‘legends league’, these bouts may make sense for an aging Belfort.
Perhaps “The Phenom” could be headed to Bellator after UFC 212?
