As reported by Fighters Only, former UFC middleweight champion and pound-for-pound great Anderson “The Spider” Silva (34-8, 1NC) is set for a highly-anticipated rematch against “The Phenom” Vitor Belfort (25-14) at UFC 212 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Belfort, 40, has reportedly agreed to replace Kelvin Gastelum who was hit with anti-doping violations just recently. Luke Rockhold was also in the running to replace Gastelum. Since the fight is taking place in Brazil and both Silva and Belfort are natives of the country, it sort of makes sense.
Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort are set for a rematch
Silva, 41, finally returned to his winning ways with a controversial decision over Derek Brunson at UFC 208. Prior to his last bout, Silva experienced a four-fight skid starting with by losing his middleweight title to Chris Weidman in 2013.
The last time Silva and Belfort locked horns was at UFC 126. Silva stopped Belfort with a front kick to the face that would soon after become viral.
Belfort on the other hand is currently riding a three-fight losing streak, losing to Ronaldo Souza, Gegard Mousasi and Kelvin Gastelum, all by quick and brutal knockout. He is a winner of just one bout of his last five.
Very little is to be gained from a Silva-Belfort rematch. Quite frankly, the fight has no significance whatsoever as both fighters are way over the hill. Both Silva and Belfort are 40-year-olds who are mere ghosts of their former selves.
Silva won the first encounter via front-kick KO
The argument could be made that both fighters should have long retired. Silva, 41, hasn’t looked the same since he defeated Stephan Bonnar in 2012. At one point, Silva was even disinterested in regaining the middleweight title and appeared done with MMA overall.
Belfort hasn’t looked the same since the UFC clamped down on doping, whatever that would entail.
Nevertheless, both Silva and Belfort appear to now be on a collision course. Hopefully the fight will be more competitive this time around and with more entertainment value.
