Vitor Belfort

By Joshua Molina

Vitor Belfort in a published report said former Strikeforce and DREAM champion Gegard Mousasi needs to “earn” a shot to fight Belfort.

Does he mean the same way he earned a shot against Jon Jones? By having a pulse and being willing to fight Jones on short notice?

Belfort’s upset KOs of Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold have apparently gone to his head. He obviously knows nothing about Mousasi, who is a top fighter and has been the last several years.

There’s only one fighter above Mousasi and it’s the champ, not Belfort. Let’s see who’s still standing a year from now.

. . . Chris Weidman better bring it Saturday night. People are talking about him like he’s the champion, which is probably more of a signal to Anderson Silva that the people outside of Brazil really want him to lose.

Silva is well-respected among the fighters and fans, but he has not connected with an American audience. The UFC fans would love to crown Weidman as the new Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture.

Chael Sonnen could have been that American hero, but he hasn’t won a fight in two years. If Weidman fails, it will be up to Jon Jones in a superfight to defeat Silva, but Jones isn’t exactly the most popular guy in the UFC either.

. . . Tim Kennedy will have what could be his first and last UFC fight this Saturday. After mouthing off about fighter pay, Kennedy will battle Roger Gracie at UFC 162. Kennedy famously said a week ago that he could earn more money emptying garbage cans than fighting in the UFC. After calling anyone who accepts the state of UFC pay as “sad” and “pathetic,” Kennedy joined his self-created group and backtracked on his comments and apologized.

He better hope he can knock out Roger Gracie Saturday night. If he loses, there’s nothing UFC president Dana White likes more than to make people pay for disparaging the company – especially after Kennedy’s corporate-speak apology.