UFC FIGHT NIGHT 32: BELFORT VS. HENDERSON Date: November 9, 2013 Location: Goiania, Goias, Brazil Venue: Goiania Arena Broadcast: FOX Sports 1, Facebook UFC Light Heavyweight Vitor Belfort (-215) Profile: The legendary Vitor Belfort (23-10) 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 some good 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 bounced back from a tough fourth-round submission loss to light heavyweight champ Jon “Bones” Jones at UFC 152 by scoring a second-round TKO of Michael Bisping on January 19 and followed that up somehow with an even more impressive knockout of former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold at UFC on FX 8 in Brazil. Now he’s set to rematch Dan Henderson and will attempt to avenge his loss to the fellow legendary vet that Belfort suffered at Pride 32. UFC Light Heavyweight Dan Henderson (+165) Profile: If you know MMA, you know Dan Henderson (29-10). He won an old-school UFC tournament back in 1998, defeated “Big Nog” to win a RINGS tournament, was the Pride Middleweight and light heavyweight champ, captured the Strikeforce light heavyweight champ title before beating Fedor Emelianenko in an epic heavyweight bout and has quite simply participated in some of the most legendary fights in the history of the sport. Unfortunately, a knee injury to “Hendo” also led to the cancellation of a UFC event for the first time ever, preventing him from taking on light heavyweight champ Jon Jones for the title at UFC 151. At 42 years of age, the clock is ticking away for this MMA legend, and he is coming off a tough split-decision loss to Lyoto Machida that cost him a title shot he was once lined up for against Jones. Furthering pushing him down the ladder was another split-decision loss, this one to Rashad Evans at UFC 161 after Hendo had Rashad beat up against the cage in the first round. Regardless of those two high-profile losses, Henderson is in a position not usually seen by many fighters in the UFC: on a two fight losing streak and fighting a contender who is on a two fight winning streak in Vitor Belfort. These two legends will meet at UFC Fight Night 32 in Brazil this November. Opening UFC Fight Night 32 Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Belfort a strong -215 favorite (bet $215 to win $100) while Henderson opened as a +165 underdog (bet $100 to win $165) at Several Bookmakers. Although Henderson won the pair’s first fight at Pride 32, it’s pretty clear that since that time Belfort has improved much more and that’s the reason he enters this fight as a decently-sized favorite. This is a very good fight between two guys who will stand in the pocket and give the fans the show, and it will likely come down to who is able to connect with the KO blow first. With Henderson, his primary weapon is his powerful right hand, while Belfort has great hands and now great kicks as well, making this a super-intriguing rematch that may very well go the complete opposite of the first fight.
