Quarterly Rankings
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort could finally square off at UFC 109 on Feb. 6, 2010 in Las Vegas, NV. News of the bout was first reported by Belfort to Portugese-language Terra magazine, and MMAjunkie.com has since confirmed that both fighters have agreed to meet at UFC 109.
The much anticipated UFC middleweight title bout between Silva and Belfort was originally penciled in as the main event of UFC 108 on Jan. 2, however, Silva pulled out of the event to recover from elbow surgery, which he had to remove bone spurs.
Belfort (19-8) has been considered a threat to Silva's reign since returning to the UFC in September. He picked up his fifth straight win by scoring a highly impressive first round TKO over former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin in his Octagon return at UFC 103. Belfort has put together a 8-4 UFC record, scoring other notable Octagon wins over David "Tank" Abbott, Wanderlei Silva and Randy Couture.
Besides the UFC, Belfort has competed for other notable promotions during his 13-year career such as Strikeforce, Affliction, Cage Rage and Pride. He has finished 15 of his 19 career wins including 13 coming by TKO or KO and holds other notable wins over the likes of Gilbert Yvel, Bobby Southworth , Heath Herring and Matt Lindland.
Silva and his camp have openly expressed their disapproval of the UFC's decision to award Belfort the title shot against him due to the fact that Belfort has yet to compete at 185 pounds in the UFC. The camp also believes that their are other more worthy contenders for the title such as Nate Marquardt and Dan Henderson. However, despite the camp's resistance, Silva believes it would be a good fight and has agreed to put his belt on the line against Belfort.
Silva (25-4) most recently defeated former UFC light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 in August. In his first bout as a light-heavyweight in the UFC, he defeated James Irvin at UFN 14 last July.
Since debuting in the Octagon in June 2006, Silva has put together a undefeated 10-0 record with nine of those wins ending via stoppage. He also garnered notable wins in the organization over Chris Leben, Rich Franklin (x2), Nate Marquardt, Dan Henderson, Travis Lutter and Patrick Cote.
The Cage Rage, Shooto and Pride veteran has been competing professionally for nine years. He has finished 19 of his 25 career wins and holds other career victories over the likes of Hayato Sakurai, Carlos Newton, Roan Carneiro, Jorge Rivera and Jeremy Horn.
The UFC's traditional Super Bowl event, UFC 109, is also expected to feature a middleweight bout between Dan Miller and Demian Maia as well as the debut of Rolles Gracie, who will take on Mustapha al Turk in heavyweight action.
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