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After accepting the fight in English on Twitter, Belfort posted a statement in Portuguese saying that the bout with Belcher is one UFC President Dana White wanted to see. With that extra push, Belfort has gone with this fight, dropping his previous callout of Chris Weidman - who himself may be next in line to face Anderson Silva.
Belfort returns to action for the first time since January, where he submitted Anthony Johnson at UFC 142. He was supposed to return at UFC 147 against Wanderlei Silva after they coached against one another on "The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil," but suffered a broken hand that took him out of the event.
Belcher enters what will be the next biggest fight of his career off a fantastic performance against Rousimar Palhares at UFC on Fox 3 in May. Showing no fear in going to the ground with the leg lock specialist, Belcher wound up escaping a bad spot and delivering a TKO finish in the first round. That win was his fourth straight, and brought him to 8-2 over his last ten fights.
Penick's Analysis: This is a fantastic middleweight fight, and the perfect fight for them both. Our own Rich Hansen called for this fight on Sunday when he broke down the
top 20 in the division and how they should all be booked against one another, and it is just a great matchup at 185 lbs. Belcher's win over Palhares deserved a fight of this magnitude, and taking on a major name - a former champion and recent title challenger - gives him the opportunity to earn his first shot at the Middleweight Championship. Conversely, Belcher is much more of a veteran in the UFC than Weidman, and a win over him would mean just as much for Belfort in getting himself back to another title fight. Brazil's got three major fights already for the UFC 153 event, now they just have to hope it doesn't have the same injury and logistics issues that plagued UFC 147.
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_13936.shtml
Dan Henderson Josh Hendricks Ed Herman Heath Herring Branden Lee Hinkle
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