Vitor Belfort has been calling for another title shot in the UFC’s middleweight division, but if Tim Kennedy is to be believed then the promotion has other plans for him.
“I’m going to brazil to fight Vitor! I’m bringing ranger panties, Greg Jackson and Ranger Up,” former strikeforce fighter Kennedy wrote on Twitter.
If it’s true, and Dana White has indicated that is the case, then it’s unlikely to be a match-up that Belfort will be thrilled about. After all, he recently shot down another Strikeforce star Gegard Mousasi when he suggested that he wanted to fight the Brazilian in his first fight in the middleweight division.
Belfort informed him that you had to earn the chance to fight someone in his position – currently as the No.2 contender in the division behind Anderson Silva.
Well, you’d imagine that philosophy would also apply to Kennedy who’s not ranked in the top 10 and who holds a loss against Luke Rockhold in the past year, a fighter who Belfort dismantled with a spinning head kick earlier this year.
However, the reality is that Belfort is going to have to fight again before he’s considered for a title shot since Silva and Weidman are set for a rematch in December, and meanwhile a lot of the other potential top 10 opponents that he could have faced are already booked up to fight.
For instance Yushin Okami (ranked No.3) is fighting Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza (No.5), while Michael Bisping (no.4) and Mark Munoz (No.6) have also been rumored for a headline bout in the UK.
In fact the only potential Top 10 opponent currently without a fight is Costa Philippou, and admittedly it’s not clear at this stage why he’s been overlooked.
There’s no official confirmation yet of exactly when the fight will take place, though the general feeling is that it’s probably going to take place closer to the end of the year.
