Vitor Belfort Fighting Alan Belcher at UFC 153
Alan Belcher
By FCF Staff
A day after Vitor Belfort took to Twitter to campaign for a fight with undefeated middleweight Chris Weidman, the UFC has announced that the accomplished vet will fight rising contender Alan Belcher, October 13th.
Belcher tweeted on July 23rd that he was hoping to fight Belfort at the UFC 153 event, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The UFC made the announcement via its Brazilian Twitter account.
Belcher (18-6) is coming off an impressive first round stoppage of Rousimar Palhares in May, after quickly defeating Jason MacDonald at a UFC Fight Night card in September.
The middleweight, who missed much of 2010 and 2011 due to an eye injury, has won four straight.
Belfort (21-9) had been scheduled to fight Wanderlei Silva at UFC 147, but was forced to withdraw due to a broken hand.
The veteran is coming off back-to-back wins over Yoshihiro Akiyama and Anthony Johnson, after being stopped by Anderson Silva in February, 2011.
UFC 153 will be headlined by a featherweight bout between champion Jose Aldo and challenger Erik Koch.
I like this matchup. It makes sense. A win against Belfort definitely moves Belcher closer to a title shot. However, what if Belfort wins? There is no way he deserves another title shot against Anderson Silva.
Glad to finally see some interesting things happening in the MW division.