Belfort wants title shot, Dana says chew on Silva loss
“I just trained so hard,” said Vitor Belfort, whose violent assault last night at UFC 133 left Yoshihiro Akiyama face…
“I just trained so hard,” said Vitor Belfort, whose violent assault last night at UFC 133 left Yoshihiro Akiyama face first on the canvas at the 1:52 mark of the opening round. “The last fight with me and Anderson, if he wouldn’t have thrown that kick, this would have happened to him.”
“He knows that in his mind. So I’m ready for what’s next.”
“I’m going for the belt. That’s my goal, and that’s my future. I’m not going to stop. Nobody’s going to stop me.”
That’s not entirely true. Dana White ultimately decides who gets title fights, and he doesn’t see any need for Belfort to get another shot so quickly. Besides the likely No. 1 contender’s bout between Chael Sonnen and Brian Stann in October, White just isn’t sure Belfort’s first appearance warrants another shot so soon.
“It’s tough to do,” he said. “If they went out and had this war, back and forth – if it were like the Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva fight – that’d be one thing. But it lasted what, 35 seconds? It’s something Vitor is going to have to chew on for a while.”
“Vitor handled his business quickly. Lorenzo and I were sitting there. I don’t know if you guys noticed, but when (Akiyama) threw that front kick, Vitor went ape s—. He went crazy when he did that. So he went and finished that fight. Yeah, that pissed him off.”
“Vitor’s going to have to beat some people at 185 and then work his way back up to that title shot because it’d be hard to make that title fight after what happened.”