When Vitor Belfort stopped David “Tank” Abbott in 52 seconds at UFC 13 in 1997, the MMA world, still in its infancy, embraced him like few others before or since. “The Phenom” was only four fights into his MMA career and three fights into his UFC career. Yet, he was already anointed as the heir apparent to carry the sport into the new Millennium and beyond.
On paper, it seemed like a safe bet. Belfort was as close to a perfect fighter as the world had seen up to that point. He was a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under the Carlson Gracie with amazing physical strength and quite possibly the best hands in the sport at the time.
In many ways, he was what we now refer to as the new breed of mixed martial artist – a well-rounded fighter with amazing talents in every facet of the game like current UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin. He was, in some respects, the blueprint for the fighters competing today.
Top that off with magazine-cover good looks, a million-dollar smile and a physique like a bodybuilder and the world couldn't help but fall in love with the Brazilian phenomenon.
Oh yes, he was only two months past his 20th birthday.
So many expectations. So much promise. So much potential.
The fans wanted Belfort to be great. Maybe the sport even needed him to be great as it struggled on life support in the late 90s.
Then he ran into a guy named Randy Couture, the consummate competitor. He wasn’t flashy like Belfort. He didn’t produce highlight-reel knockouts with Gatling gun flurries. And he wasn’t the same type of physical specimen as Belfort.
Nonetheless, he handed out a methodical, technical beating that left an exhausted, beaten Belfort slumped against the cage as referee “Big” John McCarthy stepped in to waive off the action. At 20 years old, an age when most of today’s UFC fighters are either in college or earning their stripes in the small local shows, the myth of Vitor Belfort was crushed, though only momentarily.
Two fights later, Belfort turned in a career-defining performance against the fearsome Wanderlei Silva. Granted, Silva wasn’t the Wanderlei Silva of today who strikes paralyzing fear into the hearts many men. But he wasn’t a bologna sandwich, either.
Belfort disposed of him with a single flurry of punches less than a minute into the first round. To this day, Belfort remains the only man alive to hold such a dominant professional win over “The Axe Murderer.”
A move to Pride Fighting Championships in Japan and a unanimous decision loss to Kazushi Sakuraba in his next fight raised eyebrows yet again. But four consecutive wins erased many of the doubts.
Twelve fights and almost six years into his professional career, Belfort returned to the UFC amidst a ton of hype and expectations to challenge Tito Ortiz for the light heavyweight crown. Injuries to both men postponed the proposed fight twice, so Belfort ended up facing Chuck Liddell in what was dubbed an eliminator to determine the next challenger for Ortiz’s throne.
The Brazilian lost a razor-close fight when Liddell dropped him with a right hand in the closing moments of the fight. At the time, Belfort was pressing the action with one of his trademark flurries. But a single counter right hand sealed the unanimous decision for Liddell.
“Overrated. Underachiever. Over hyped. Mentally weak. Washed up. Waste of talent.”
Since the loss to Liddell, Belfort has only two wins in five fights, losing three straight over the last 15 months. Now, instead of praising Belfort as the future of the sport, the 27-year-old receives as much criticism as any fighter in the world.
He is labelled mentally weak, even though he was able to force himself to show up and defeat Couture for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 49 only weeks after his younger sister was abducted in his native Brazil. He is referred to as overrated and an underachiever, even though he is one of only five men to ever hold the light heavy crown (Frank Shamrock’s middleweight reign counted since that was the 200-pound belt).
He is done, washed up, a complete waste of such amazing God-given and gym-developed talents. At least, that is what most would like the world to believe.
Five months after an awful effort in a loss to Alistair Overeem which has to be his low point in terms of performance, Belfort is back.
This time, however, there is no hoopla. There are no expectations. And he isn’t fighting under the bright lights of the UFC or Pride.
On Saturday night, Belfort will face Antony Rea in the main event at Cage Rage in England. Make no mistake about it; Rea isn’t supposed to win on Saturday. With losses to Marvin Eastman, Matt Horwich and Jason MacDonald in his last seven fights, he is a guy that a focused, well-prepared Belfort should handle with relative ease. After all, the Brazilian is better on the ground, better on the feet, stronger and more experienced, particularly in big fights.
But Belfort was anything but focused and well-prepared for his last fight. He looked and performed like a shell of the fighter who showed up to face Ortiz at UFC 51 – a fight that Belfort lost by a highly controversial split decision.
Suffice to say, Saturday night is a tremendous opportunity for Belfort to get a confidence-building win under his belt. It is a chance for him to remind the MMA world that he is still a force to be reckoned with. And it is a vehicle to get himself back in the UFC or Pride.
Is Vitor Belfort about to make another run at greatness in MMA? Or will Saturday night be the Swan’s Song for a shooting star that burned out way too early?
We’ll all find out soon enough.
Source: InsideFighting.com
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