Vitor Belfort - Climbing The Mountain Again
/ 0
- Details
- Category: UFC News
- Published on Thursday, 04 August 2011 05:00
- Written by By Thomas Gerbasi
Vitor Belfort isn’t going anywhere. Despite his UFC 126 loss to Anderson Silva in their middleweight championship bout this past February, “The Phenom” is not about to let the longtime titleholder off the hook just yet. He’s still shooting for Silva, and that’s not just the word from the UFC vet, it comes from the whole family.
“In my house, we don’t accept the word ‘impossible,’” said Belfort. “If we want to do something, we’re gonna go to the end. We need to understand that losing and winning is part of life, but giving up is not a part of our lives. ‘What’s next dad, when are you going to have a chance to fight him again?’ That’s the question my son (Davi) asked me. That’s the way we see life here, as a positive. We recognize that he was the better man on that night, and the only thing he landed, he landed pretty good, and he won the fight.”
One of the most highly-anticipated title fights in years, Silva vs. Belfort matched up two countrymen with dynamic styles, long histories of excellence, and a little bit of heat. It made for an explosive encounter, but it was Silva who detonated the bomb, catching Belfort with a front kick that has earned plenty of consideration for 2011’s Knockout of the Year. It was a crushing end to Belfort’s five fight winning streak and his attempt to join BJ Penn and Randy Couture as the only fighters in UFC history to hold titles in more than one weight class.
But the former light heavyweight champion has no sour grapes about the defeat.
“I went there to knock him out and he knows that, but he caught me with a very strange kick, and I believe it was the best knockout of his life,” said Belfort. “He knows the pressure was on his shoulders and the night shined for him. What can I say? I just have to recognize that and go back and work hard to have another shot. That’s the only thing you can do. No regrets, I did my best, I corrected the mistakes that I made and I try to improve myself every day in the gym.”
