According to a report Wednesday on MMAJunkie.com, the UFC is planning to stage a main event in Brazil later in the year that will feature middleweight Vitor Belfor squaring off against Luke Rockhold. The event has yet to be officially announced by the promotion.
Wednesday morning, UFC President Dana White revealed the plan while he was promoting UFC on Fuel TV 7 which takes place in London. No date has been finalized for the scheduled contest, but it is likely that the victor will become the No. 1 contender, the report claims.
Vitor Belfort, 35, has bounced around between light heavyweight and middleweight. He just recently headed back to the middleweight division after he came up short against Jon Jones in an attempt to capture the title in that division. In his last fight, he was impressive in stopping Michael Bisping in the second round at UFC on FX 7. A head kick finished off the Brit in a fight that also took place in Belfort's native Brazil.
As for Luke Rockhold, he has yet to compete for the UFC. He was the last champion in the middleweight division for the Strikeforce promotion which recently closed its doors. Riding an impressive nine-fight win streak, he has been out of action since last July when he defeated Tim Kennedy. He originally captured the title in September 2011 when he beat Ronaldo Souza. His first defense of the title came when he beat Keith Jardine in the first round last January.
If the meeting goes ahead as scheduled, it will prove to be a good test for Luke Rockhold in his UFC debut. Vitor Belfort has been around for many years and has competed against many of the best fighters in the sport. Should he prevail, Rockhold will show that he is a force to be dealt with, and a welcome addition to a division in the UFC which seems to have run out of challengers for Anderson Silva's title.
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