Affliction Entertainment had it all laid out. Their sights were set on a sick catch-weight scrap between former UFC champ Vitor Belfort and former Dream middleweight king Gegard Mousasi. However, Belfort pumped the breaks on the bout immediately upon hearing that it wasn’t going to happen in Mousasi’s best weight class.

I think that we [offered] him the catch weight, Mousasi was willing to come down to 195, we wanted Vitor to go up to 195, which wasn’t heavy, Atencio told 5thRound.com in an exclusive interview. So it was Vitor’s choice. Vitor chose not to take the fight. We’re still gonna have him on the card. No, it was completely up to Vitor.

The 32-year-old Belfort seems to have found his stride once again, walking away victorious in five out of his last six scraps, including his last four. Perhaps that is why he didn’t want to roll the dice by facing one of MMA’s hottest fighters.

I thought personally, it wouldn’t have hurt his record [if he were to lose to Mousasi] because he would have been at a catch-weight, Atencio told us. I think he’s been doing really well at 185, but once again, that was his choice.

No, that’s why I don’t understand, why he didn’t take it. It was a win-win for him.

read full article…