With middleweight champion Anderson Silva sidelined until at least March in order to heal up from elbow surgery, a proposed match up with Vitor Belfort, which was originally scheduled for UFC 108 on Jan. 2 and then rescheduled for February, now appears off entirely. Fighter's Only is reporting that Belfort will instead face Nate Marquardt in a title elimination bout to determine Silva's next middleweight title challenger. 

Silva and manager Ed Soares had been lobbying hard to avoid a fight with Belfort, who they deemed unworthy of a title shot given that the famous Brazilian had yet to compete in the UFC at middleweight. They wanted instead to see a title elimination match up between Marquardt and former Pride middleweight and light-heavyweight champion Dan Henderson with the winner earning a shot at Silva.

With Henderson out for now due to contract negotiations, it appears that Silva's camp will have to settle for an elimination bout between Marquardt and Belfort instead.

Belfort (19-8) made his UFC debut at UFC 12 in 1997 at the tender age of 19. Nicknamed "The Phenom", he stormed through the organization winning his first three fights by first-round knockout before dropping his first loss to fellow MMA legend Randy Couture. He holds notable wins over Couture, Tank Abbott, Wanderlei Silva, Gilbert Yvel, Heath Herring, Marvin Eastman, Matt Lindland and Rich Franklin.

The Xtreme Couture trained Belfort is currently in the midst of a career resurgence having dropped from light-heavyweight to the middleweight division where he is undefeated at 2-0 (he also recently defeated former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin at a catchweight of 195 lbs).

Marquardt (29-8) is currently considered among the middleweight divisions top fighters. The Jackson's Submission Fighter has an outstanding 8-2 record in the UFC with notable wins over Jeremy Horn, Martin Kampmann, Wilson Gouveia, and Demian Maia. He was rumored to be taking on Chael Sonnen at UFC 109 on Feb. 6, but it looks as if that fight may be scraped in favor of this more high profile contest.

*UPDATE: Noted MMA reporter Ariel Helwani has confirmed with a source close to the Marquardt-Sonnen fight that that contest is still on with assurances given as recently as today. Meanwhile, Belfort has told Brazilian MMA news outlet Terra.com that the fight with Silva is off for February, but that he will still be competing on the card against an as of yet unknown opponent.

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