Belfort promises an organic retirement
On Tuesday Vitor Belfort will have fought professionally for exactly 20 years. Now 39, he is still fighting at the…
On Tuesday Vitor Belfort will have fought professionally for exactly 20 years. Now 39, he is still fighting at the highest levels of the sport. In his past six fights Belfort beat Michael Bisping who currently holds the belt, he beat Luke Rockhold who Bisping beat for the belt, and twice he beat Dan Henderson who is challenging for the belt on Saturday night.
He also lost to Chris Weidman in a title challenge at UFC 187 on May 23, 2015, and lost to Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza TKO at UFC 198 on May 14, 2016. There is also an asterix by Belfort’s name for the use of legal and illegal performance enhancing drugs. On Saturday night Belfort fights Gegard Mousasi on the co-main event of UFC 204. In the main event, Dan Henderson challenges Michael Bisping for the middleweight title, and promises to retire whether he wins or loses.
During an interview with Megan Olivi, Belfort addressed the questions around his retirement, sort of.
People are expecting this for my past seven fights: ‘When are you going to retire?’ I understand the job of you guys [in the media is] trying to expect what I’m going to do next, but actually, I don’t have a plan, said Belfort, as transcribed by Mike Bohn and Abbey Subhan for MMAjunkie. My plan is to be here right now and fight this fight and fight the best guys. I’m not here to take any easy fights. I’ve fought in the decades before against tough guys.
I’m not going to fight into my 50s, so the transition is going to happen naturally and organically. Who knows? Maybe UFC comes with the legend division.
I think Gegard wants to fight the best guy, and that’s an honor for me, having a guy that wants to fight m. He’s one of the best guys in the sport. I admire fighters that want to fight the best guys.
Mousasi predicts a win inside the first two rounds.
He’s wrong, Belfort said. Very, very wrong.