Interview with the future UFC MW champ

[Celio Silva]

The next UFC MW division ruler http://www.mmatko.com/vitor-belfort-...h-mike-straka/ (W/FS)

[Doug Blankenship]

I'm not really A. Silva fan at all, the man is highly overrated, but, I can see him beating Vitor. Vitor is to inconsistent, his up and downs have always been his downfall. Plus, coming off a long lay off isn't going to help someone who should be fighting more often.

I would love to see him knock off A. Silva but doubt it is going to happen.

[Celio Silva]

Doug, I think you are overlooking something key in life as far as this fight (and everything else) is concerned: Everyone´s life is made of PHASES. Vitor is at his prime, regardless of his age and what his career record looks like. Vitor´s past has been very tumultuous, and his profession dosen´t allow for bad days, let alone bad phases. The guy was the UFC Heavyweight champion at 19 YEARS OLD! Can you imagine the pressure? Keep in mind where he is from: Rio de Janeiro! Hardly an easy place to stay focused, wouldn´t you say? Then his sister is kidnapped! Now imagine that. He simply had too much to deal with too soon. He should have never fought Randy the third time, not at a that time anyways, but he is a true warrior so he stepped up to the challenge, however unprepared.

Vitor is on the top of his game now because he´s matured. Yet, his physical gifts are still there, and combined with the skills harnessed throughout his career he is in fact better than ever. Look what he did to Franklin: he took three minutes to pick his spot and then threw three punches, that was it. When have you ever seen someone do that to Franklin.

This is his time and he is going to smash the spider (who BTW I don´t think is "...highly overrated"... at all! Who has done anything close to what he´s done?!).

Just be prepared to watch a lot of faint and foot work before anything happen... it shouldn´t be too long though, I don´t see this fight going past the 2nd round...

[Troy Becker]

You know, I don't know how to call this fight, but I am really excited for it. (I think that makes me the only guy who's a fan of either (both) fighters who doesn't already think he has it figured out.)

What's interesting is that people keep saying that wrestlers would be the worst match ups for Silva because his strengths lie everywhere but that... clearly that isn't true. I think the only person who will ever take him down before he gets old is someone good enough to beat him at his own game. Vitor could be that person, his ground skills are excellent and his hand speed is amazing, but it is damn hard to count Silva out so easily. It's hard to see him losing period, in fact. Let's face it, you can say this and that about his abilities and so on... or you can just realize that, in the end, he always finds a way to win.

Like I said, hard to call, but it's a fight to look forward to.

[Doug Blankenship]

Originally Posted by Celio Silva

Doug, I think you are overlooking something key in life as far as this fight (and everything else) is concerned: Everyone´s life is made of PHASES. Vitor is at his prime, regardless of his age and what his career record looks like. Vitor´s past has been very tumultuous, and his profession dosen´t allow for bad days, let alone bad phases. The guy was the UFC Heavyweight champion at 19 YEARS OLD! Can you imagine the pressure? Keep in mind where he is from: Rio de Janeiro! Hardly an easy place to stay focused, wouldn´t you say? Then his sister is kidnapped! Now imagine that. He simply had too much to deal with too soon. He should have never fought Randy the third time, not at a that time anyways, but he is a true warrior so he stepped up to the challenge, however unprepared.

Vitor is on the top of his game now because he´s matured. Yet, his physical gifts are still there, and combined with the skills harnessed throughout his career he is in fact better than ever. Look what he did to Franklin: he took three minutes to pick his spot and then threw three punches, that was it. When have you ever seen someone do that to Franklin.

This is his time and he is going to smash the spider (who BTW I don´t think is "...highly overrated"... at all! Who has done anything close to what he´s done?!).

Just be prepared to watch a lot of faint and foot work before anything happen... it shouldn´t be too long though, I don´t see this fight going past the 2nd round...

Love the answers you always give. Vitor did have a lot of crap going on in his life, he also did steriods which doesn't help with all the crap he had going on. He is talented and I hope he can deliver but I just cannot see it happening with such a long layoff. I hope I'm wrong.


A. Silva on the other hand is another matter. His best wins are over the following guys:
Franklin
Marquardt
Forrest
Maia
Sonnen (Which he too is overrated).
Maybe Jeremy Horn should be on the list.

31 fights and those are his most impressive opponents. I don't count Leben, Cote and the other UFC rift raft that was fed to him. Yet, he has lost to complete garbage fighters. That is why I say he's overrated.

I guess hindsight he has fought the best the UFC can throw at him and won. Maybe I'm too hard on the guy but some people hold him up way to high on the rankings list.

[Troy Becker]

Originally Posted by Doug Blankenship

[Vitor] also did steriods which doesn't help with all the crap he had going on.

Did it hurt?

[Jason R O'Dell]

Originally Posted by Doug Blankenship

Yet, he has lost to complete garbage fighters.

Hmmm.....

His first loss was his very first fight 10 years ago.

His second loss was 7 years ago.

His third loss (which was bad) was 6 years ago.

His fourth loss was four years ago and was by DQ!


So one bad loss that happened 6 years ago? Yeah dude is such a bad fighter with such terrible losses. What a bum.

Who would you rather have seen him fight? He's fought who the UFC put in front of him. Who in the UFC should he have fought instead?

[Troy Becker]

Originally Posted by Jason R O'Dell

Who would you rather have seen him fight? He's fought who the UFC put in front of him. Who in the UFC should he have fought instead?

Brock Lesnar could probably take him...

[Doug Blankenship]

Who would you rather have seen him fight? He's fought who the UFC put in front of him. Who in the UFC should he have fought instead?

Already answered,

I guess hindsight he has fought the best the UFC can throw at him and won. Maybe I'm too hard on the guy but some people hold him up way to high on the rankings list.

[Celio Silva]

Doug, you are absolutely right about the level of competition Anderson has faced, that´s one thing people are overlooking about Belfort, the guys he has fought:

Randy (3 times)
Chuck (Vitor took that fight on ONE week notice!)
Overeem (2 times)
Wanderlei
Sakuraba

And Vitor fought these fighters during their prime (except for Overeem, who is at his prime now) and while struggling with his tulmutuous past, thus his performance suffered radically, so his record dosen´t tell the whole story. People don´t know that Vitor has the experience edge. Afterall, by the time Anderson debuted in MMA (a fight he lost), Vitor had already won a heavyweight championship, had fought Randy and Sakuraba, and had destroyed Wanderlei in 44 seconds. People are sleeping on Vitor big time, and he is going to shock the light out of them...