Belfort

By FCF Staff

Vitor Belfort has issued an apology after the fighter lashed out at a reporter Saturday night, for raising the fighter’s use of testosterone-replacement-therapy, following his KO win over Luke Rockhold.

Belfort told MMA Junkie.com’s John Morgan he was “boring” and asked “somebody to beat him up” for bringing up the issue, which dominated headlines heading into UFC on FX 8.

Belfort posted his apology via Twitter by saying:

To all my fans and to all the reporters that was there on the after press conference I would like to ask for forgiveness the way I answer about TRT I RECOGNIZE THAT I ANWSER IN A IMMATURE WAY BUT WAS THE 10 th time that that reporter ask the same question. No excuse!! I made a WORNG call and I am here to ask for forgiveness God bless all you guys love to do what I do and I am keeping moving UP SEEKING GROW AS A MEN OF GOD AND AS A FIGHTER “DONT DOUT ME I WILL PROUVE U WORNG” PEACE

The 36 year-old middleweight, who has received an exemption for TRT use in Brazil, knocked Rockhold out with a highlight reel, spinning heel kick at the May 18th event.

Luke Rockhold

By Joshua Molina

How sad. Luke Rockhold choked in the biggest fight of his life.

Considering that he’s injury prone, I don’t expect him to jump back on the horse and bounce back with a big victory over a top opponent this year.

And that’s a shame, considering how great Rockhold could be.

Chael Sonnen made a good point in his post-fight analysis. He noted that Rockhold’s hands were down when he got hit — for no good reason.

Maybe it was all that training at AKA with “King Mo”.

Rockhold went wrong in almost every possible way leading up to the fight.

The 28-year-old spent too much time talking about the 36-year-old’s use of testosterone-replacement-therapy.

Get over it. It’s a fight. If a significantly younger man can’t beat an older dude on TRT, that’s his problem.

Jon Jones didn’t seem to have a problem with Sonnen.

Rockhold never should have fought Belfort in Brazil.

Rockhold never should have fought Belfort to begin with.

Little to gain and everything to lose.

Now, he’s just another Strikeforce guy who came up short in his UFC debut.

Souza (photo by Esther Lin / Strikeforce)

By FCF Staff

Not surprisingly, Vitor Belfort was handed “Knockout of the Night” and an extra $50,000 for his thrilling finish of Luke Rockhold at UFC on FX 8 in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil. The 36 year-old vet sent Rockhold crashing to the canvas with a spinning heel kick to the head, and then brought about the stoppage with several more punches from above.

“Submission of the Night” and 50K went to another of Brazil’s top middleweights, as Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza picked up the honor for his first round win over Chris Camozzi. After taking Camozzi to the mat,  the highly decorated jiu-jitsu competitor beautifully worked his way into a fight ending arm-triangle-choke.

“Fight of the Night” was awarded to lightweights Jeremy Larsen and Lucas Martins for their bruising preliminary bout. Martins finished Larsen with a thumping right hand only moments into round three.

Vitor Belfort (photo via Ryan Loco)

By FCF Staff

Vitor Belfort scored what is likely one of the more memorable stoppages in UFC history tonight in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil, as the feared striker floored Luke Rockhold with a spinning heel kick and then finished the middleweight off with punches.

Rockhold came out aggressively as expected, and although he failed to take Belfort down to the mat moments in, the former Strikeforce champ started to find his timing and land some kicks. Belfort attempted a spinning heel kick and failed, but on his second attempt he caught Rockhold flush on the left side of his face. As Rockhold lay stunned on the canvas, Belfort pounded down several more punches to bring about the referee’s intervention.

In the card’s co-main-event, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza cruised through Chris Camozzi, as the renowned jiu-jitsu competitor submitted the surging middleweight with a first round, arm-triangle-choke.

Here are the results from tonight’s UFC on FX 8 card.

Vitor Belfort def. Luke Rockhold via KO (spinning heel kick and punches)- R1 2:32

Ronaldo Souza def. Chris Camozzi via submission (arm-triangle choke) – R1, 3:37

Rafael dos Anjos def. Evan Dunham via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Rafael Natal def. Joao Zeferino via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)

Nik Lentz def. Hacran Dias via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-28)

Francisco Trinaldo def. Mike Rio via submission (arm-triangle choke) – R1, 3:08

Gleison Tibau def. John Cholish via submission (guillotine choke) – R2, 2:34

Paulo Thiago def. Michel Prazeres via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Yuri Alcantara def. Iliarde Santos via TKO (strikes) – R1, 2:31

Fabio Maldonado def. Roger Hollett via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 29-27)

John Lineker def. Azamat Gashimov via TKO (strikes) – R2, 1:07

Jussier Formiga def. Chris Cariaso via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Lucas Martins def. Jeremy Larsen via KO (punch) – R3, 0:13

Rockhold (Photo credit: Esther Lin/Strikeforce)

By Joshua Molina

As the battle to legalize MMA in New York continues, former cage fighter Nick Denis teamed up with New York state senator Brad Hoylman to write a well-argued article (for the NY Daily News) about the need to protect MMA fighters from head injuries.

Even though the UFC is big around the world, it is not legal in the most famous city in the world.

The UFC has been fighting a political battle with lawkmakers and the Culinary Workers Union — and getting crushed worse than Chael Sonnen in a Chael Sonnen fight.

Denis and Hoylman write: “Growing evidence shows a link between repeated hits to the head among professional athletes in contact sports and progressive degenerative brain disease, called chronic traumatic encephalopathy. A recent study of MMA fighters by the Cleveland Clinic correlates the number of years of fighting and reduced brain functionality.”

The 29-year-old Canadian Denis retired from the UFC for health reasons and now appears to be focused on making a difference outside the cage.

. . . In one of the most senseless main events in recent MMA history, former Strikeforce middleweight champ Luke Rockhold will fight Vitor Belfort this Saturday in Brazil.

This is a dumb fight for Rockhold, who is one of the best middleweights in the world. He has nothing to gain by beating Belfort, but if he gets caught with a kick, his career gets flushed down the toilet in his UFC debut.

Not sure why Rockhold, who hasn’t fought since last July, thought it would be a good idea to make his UFC debut in Brazil, against a Brazilian and on FX, after fighting most of his life at the Shark Tank in San Jose.

If Belfort pulls off an upset, it would likely be a defeat for the injury-prone Rockhold that would take years for him to recover from.

If he wins, Rockhold should get a quick title shot against the winner of the Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman UFC middleweight championship

Belfort

By FCF Staff

Much of the discussion surrounding UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva as of late, has been predictably tied to his next opponent Chris Weidman, and whether the champ could fight Jon Jones in the coming months. Not as much of it has revolved around Vitor Belfort, and whether fans could see a rematch between the veteran and Silva at some point.

Although part of the reason for that is because Belfort will take on former Strikeforce champion Vitor Belfort on May 18th, “The Phenom” believes he’s knocking on the door of another title shot.

While speaking to Bleacher Report, the 36 year-old fighter reportedly stated:

“I have been fighting and winning all the fights in my division,” said Belfort, who has scored wins over Yoshihiro Akiyama, Anthony Johnson and most recently Michael Bisping, since he was floored by a Silva front kick in February, 2011.  ”I think I deserve a title shot.”

Belfort also added that he’s not calling for a specific rematch, but rather, he’s in pursuit of the belt, no “matter who has it.”

The Brazilian fighter, who was submitted by the light-heavyweight champ Jones last September, is currently ranked #2 in the UFC middleweight division.

The Belfort-Rockhold bout will take place at UFC on FX 8, which will take place in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil.

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones

By Joshua Molina

After the most controversial month in recent UFC history, Jon Jones will finally step into the cage and fight this Saturday at UFC 152.

Jones will battle Vitor Belfort in a fight that would never had happened for not the wild chain of events that were triggered after Dan Henderson pulled out of the original fight with Jones.

Let’s get real here: The last month has been fun, but it’s all about to end. Barring a monumental upset, Jones will likely make short work of Belfort, who doesn’t belong in the same conversation with Jones, much less cage.

Lost in all the drama over Jones is the fact that he’s possibly the best mixed martial arts fighter in the world, and at the very least the second best. George St. Pierre has been gone too long to be considered No. 2., although a win over Carlos Condit would launch him back quickly.

For the good of the sport, Jones needs to triumph over Belfort and we all need to move on with our lives.

That includes Chael Sonnen. The trash-talking lightning rod is “in full camp” looking to step in for Belfort should he get injured.

Note to Chael. Get a life. He’s a distraction and he needs to focus on his own fights.

Unless he knows something the rest of us don’t, Sonnen should stop trying maneuver himself into the limelight here.

The worst thing that could happen to Sonnen is for Belfort to pull out of the fight. If by some miracle Sonnen were to fight Jones, he’d be in big trouble.

His best hope would be to wrestle Jones to a decision victory, but that would be extraordinarily tough, given Jones’ ample physical abilities.

Sonnen doesn’t want to be the guy who got creamed twice in three months in the first round.

UFC needs to turn the corner on the Jones-Henderson-Dana-White-Greg Jackson-Lyoto Machida-Sonnen debacle.

Let’s get back to fighting inside the cage, not out of it.

Chael Sonnen

By Joshua Molina

Chael Sonnen needs to shut up.

He’s been running his mouth almost non-stop for most of the year. After trashing Anderson Silva, his country and his training partners, he walked into the cage and got TKO’d by Silva in July.

Now, he’s trying to bait Jon Jones into agreeing to fight him. He was willing to replace an injured Dan Henderson and fight Jones on eight days notice on Sept. 1, but when Jones refused, Sonnen attacked him. He’s called him a chicken, a coward and a mental midget. Now he told ESPN radio that he will end up fighting Jones on Sept. 22 because Jones’ opponent, Vitor Belfort, is going to pull out of the fight.

Sonnen has been praised for his willingness to fight Jones on such short notice, but Jones and others have speculated that Sonnen has been quietly training for the fight because he knew Henderson was too injured to fight more than three weeks prior. Was Sonnen courageous or cunning?

Regardless of what Sonnen knew and when he knew it, he needs to stop talking before he ends up making a fool of himself.

Here’s why the Sonnen trash talk worked with Silva. People believed he could win. He hammered the unbeatable Silva for four rounds, then made a mistake, and paid for it, tapping out to a triangle choke.

The insults worked against Silva in the rematch because fans believed that he could actually beat him. It doesn’t matter that Sonnen was TKO’d in the second fight. Once again, Sonnen won the first round, and then made a mistake in the second (why on earth is he trying spinning backfists)?

Fight fans know that Sonnen is competitive with Silva, so listening to his trash talk is worth their time.

That’s not the case with Jones.

We don’t know that he’s competitive with Jones. In fact, the most logical assumption is that he’s not.

Jones is bigger, younger, faster, and just about more skilled in everything except wrestling and trash talking. To use pro wrestling vernacular that Sonnen would appreciate, barring some outside interference from Dan Henderson in the match, when the referee isn’t looking, Jones would likely clobber Sonnen and do it worse than Silva did.

Sonnen needs to calm down and stop diluting his effectiveness as a UFC character. There’s a fine line between brilliant self promoter and bizarre, delusional self promoter.

What if Sonnen talks his way into a fight with Jones and then gets tapped out in the first round? He’s going to have a hard time selling his next fight based on trash talk. He also needs to show some modicum of respect for Jones as a fighter. He’s not a coward for not wanting to fight a new opponent on eight days notice.

Professional fighters aren’t chickens or cowards. Jones may have his priorities out of whack; he might be getting bad advice from those around him; he might be playing it too safe and trying his career, but he’s not a chicken.

Besides, Jones is so hated in MMA right now that it really doesn’t matter if he fights Belfort, Sonnen or Elton John; people will pay to see him fight anybody, hoping that he will lose. At least for one more pay per view.

Lack of competition alert: Everyone in MMA is still reeling over Dana White’s verbal destruction of Jones last week during a media call. White wouldn’t be acting that way if there were another MMA competitor that he could lose Jones to. It’s easy for White to abuse Jones because he knows Jones probably won’t fight anywhere out of the UFC.

Theoretically Jones could move to Bellator once his UFC contract is up, but White doesn’t appear to be too worried about Bellator as competition yet. The UFC is not MMA.

Contact reporter Joshua Molina at jmolina@fcfighter.com. Or follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JoshuaMolinaMMA