UFC on FX 7: January 19, 2013 Ibirapuera Arena in São Paulo, Brazil UFC Middleweight Contender Vitor Belfort (-140) Profile: The legendary Vitor Belfort (21-10) first made waves in the MMA world when the sport was still in its infancy. Making his UFC debut at 18 years old and in only his second career fight, Belfort went on to win the UFC 12 heavyweight tournament before his first loss was delivered to him by Hall of Famer Randy Couture at UFC 15. Twenty fights later, including stints with Pride, Cage Rage, Affliction and Strikeforce, the 35-year-old Brazilian has come full circle and calls the UFC home once again. Belfort’s return fight was a memorable first-round TKO of Rich Franklin at UFC 103, which led to him earning a title shot against middleweight champion Anderson Silva at UFC 126. Despite suffering a first-round knockout to Silva by front kick and punches, he has since strung together two quick wins with a first-round KO of Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133 and a rear-naked choke submission victory against Anthony Johnson in front of a Brazilian crowd at UFC 142. He is coming off a tough fourth-round submission loss to light heavyweight champ Jon “Bones” Jones in his return to the division at UFC 152 after nearly submitting him via armbar in the first round. UFC Middleweight Contender Michael Bisping (+110) Profile: The brash Michael Bisping (23-4) always has something to say, and after winning Season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter and going 10-4 in UFC, he has backed up his talk for the most part. Of late, Bisping has been developing the rest of his fight repertoire to supplement his solid striking skills. Now with the ground game to back up his stand-up, the 33-year-old Brit has been able to string together a number of impressive wins over the likes of Matt Hamill, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Chris Leben and Jason Miller at The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale. In a middleweight title eliminator fight at UFC on FOX 3 against top middleweight title eliminator fight at UFC on FOX 3 against top middleweight contender Chael Sonnen, Bisping lost a highly controversial unanimous decision and then suffered a torn meniscus in his knee that caused him to withdraw from his matchup with Tim Boetsch. Following his recovery, he earned a unanimous decision win against Brian Stann at UFC 152 and will next face Vitor Belfort as he continues to climb up the ladder with his eyes still set on a title shot against Silva. Opening UFC on FX 7 Odds Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Belfort a small -140 favorite (bet $140 to win $100) while Bisping opened as a +110 underdog (bet $100 to win $110) according to the MMA odds. Bisping has never backed down from a challenge and will definitely have his work cut out for him fighting Belfort in his own backyard. It’s hard to say if the winner of this matchup will get an immediate title shot since UFC president Dana White is holding out for a potential superfight between Silva and Georges St-Pierre pending GSP’s welterweight title unification bout against Carlos Condit at UFC 154. Chris Weidman is also set to face Boetsch at UFC 155 at the end of the year, and an argument can be made that the winner of that fight deserves a title shot as well. Regardless of how things shake out, these are two elite middleweights who rank among the Top 10 in the MMAOB MMA Fighter Rankings. Bisping has talked a lot about having no interest in fighting Weidman because of his inexperience, and there are few middleweights or fighters in the UFC period with more experience than Belfort. On paper, this looks to be an absolute war between two top contenders who should be ready to rumble in what MMA fans see as a potential epic battle. Hopefully, it lives up to the hype.
