Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort 2 was originally supposed to be the main event for UFC 197, but plans got scrapped. Instead, Silva will be fighting Michael Bisping at UFC Fight Night 83, and Belfort doesn’t have an opponent lined up yet. The two fought back in 2011 when Silva knocked out Belfort in the first round.
UFC Senior Vice President Giovanni Decker explained in an interview with Combate this week that Belfort turned down the fight, but not necessarily because he was ducking a rematch Silva. Here’s what Decker had to say about why UFC changed their plans for Silva vs. Belfort 2:
“With the card losing a title fight as big as that one, we thought this card would fit better at the Arena, no longer at a soccer stadium,” Decker said.
“But we couldn’t get the deal done with Vitor Belfort. Anderson accepted the fight, but Vitor decided to wait to see what would happen in the fight between Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold (at UFC 194), and he was right because Rockhold won and called him out at the UFC 194 post-fight press conference, which was a good sign for him.”
“Many people said Vitor didn’t want this fight, and that wasn’t the truth. He wants it, he made it clear it will happen at some time, but for him, thinking about his career and what he has ahead of him at this moment, this fight wouldn’t make sense. We were running out of time, and the UFC needed to announce the UFC 196 main event in Las Vegas. That’s why the fight between Werdum and Velasquez ended up there.”
UFC 197 takes place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on March 5, 2016. The event will air on PPV, FOX Sports 1, and UFC Fight Pass, and we’ll have live round-by-round coverage of the event here on MMANews.com.
