Roundtable: Kingdom MMA on Vitor Belfort

Kingdom MMA discuss Vitor Belfort

by Ben Heather @benheather

On Saturday night Vitor Belfort turned back the hands of time and put on yet another brilliant performance. This time he knocked out Luke Rockhold in the first round in the main event of UFC on FX 8.

This performance got some of the guys from Kingdom MMA thinking. Is this Belfort's best streak? Is he the legitimate number 1 contender at middleweight in the UFC? Should he be inducted in to the UFC Hall of Fame? Our thoughts on these questions will be revealed below.

Belfort has beat both Bisping and Rockhold in his last two fights, is this Belfort's best streak of his career?

Chris: Undoubtedly, if it was anyone else right now the UFC would be lining up the fight with the middleweight champion as soon as the winner of Silva vs Weidman was decided.

Jack: If we add in dominant wins over Akiyama and Johnson also in his middleweight run its hard to argue otherwise, four brutal finishes in a row over top competition. It's Belfort's most consistent run and for me this is the best steak of his career to date.

Ben: You would have to say yes. For anybody to beat the calibre of fighters he has lately in Bisping, in a fight that would have finally given him a title shot had he won and then Rockhold who had also been mentioned in title contention its a brilliant run. As Jack mentioned its not just that he won the fights but the manner he did it by winning them both with brutal KO's.

Is Belfort better than ever or is the lack of current contenders at Middleweight making him look better than he is?

Chris: The middleweight division is strong right now, but Belfort has looked simple awesome since his loss to Silva. He is on a 4 fight win streak at middleweight, railroading Akiyama, making easy work of a good quality opponent in Rumble Johnson, and giving us two of the best KO's in 2013 against Bisping and Rockhold. Oh, and along the way he gave arguably the best fighter in the world, Jon Jones,  his toughest test to date.

Jack: As the old saying goes, you can only beat what's in front of you and beat them he certainly does. I think he's better than he's ever been and he's getting results. It's true there are a lack of contenders at middleweight at the minute and that's partly to do with Belfort kicking two legitimate contenders to the back of the queue.

Ben: I think that the Belfort of 2012/ 13 is better than ever, there is one fight that makes me think this and it was the one he lost to Jon Jones. Nobody has come close to beating Jones before the Belfort fight. Belfort proved in that fight that he has the ability to compete with the very best in the world and at Middleweight I only see Silva who is better than him.

Do you think Belfort is the next challenger to the UFC Middleweight belt?

Chris: I wrote in my UFC on FX8 predictions last week that Belfort deserved to be the number 1 contender based on performances, but how can you put a guy who is known to be on a performance enhancing drug in title fight... Especially when he's such a dick about it! Threatening to beat respected journalist up for asking about it is just ridiculous, and can you imagine if he became the champ.... he can't even get a license to fight in the fight capital of the world

Jack: Yes. He was humiliated in the 1st fight with Anderson Silva but he's comeback in the best possible way. No one else deserves the shot and you can sell a rematch. Who doesn't want to see it? It's fireworks and there's likely to be a KO of the year contender again.

Ben: Yes no doubt about it. Belfort has the best recent record at middleweight, excluding Anderson Silva. He has beat more top fighters than Chris Weidman who is getting his title shot in July and so in my opinion deserves his rematch. As Chris mentioned I think what he did in the post fight press conference by going on the attack when a journalist questioned him about TRT is completely unacceptable and not how a potential champion should be behaving.

Is Belfort a future UFC Hall of Famer? Or will the failed drugs test and TRT use overshadow his career?

Chris: With four KO's of the night, a Heavyweight tournament title, a light heavyweight title, and a host of impressive win, Belfort certainly deserves a place in the UFC hall of fame, I'd be disappointed if his recent issues with TRT saw Belfort miss out on the place he deserves, but I'd also totally understand if he was never to be included. 

Jack: I think you can say yes to both questions. There is no doubt in my mind Belfort will be in the hall of fame. I don't like the idea of fighters being inducted into the UFC hall of fame based on past wins in other organisations Mirko Crocop for example. Belfort deserves induction though. He won the light heavyweight championship nearly 10 years ago and 1st competed in the UFC 16 years ago. That he's still competing at the highest of levels is pretty amazing. Is TRT helping him to stay at that level? Probably and that will no doubt taint his resume as well.

Ben: I think yes he should definitely be in the UFC hall of fame. The problem Belfort has currently is that anytime an article is written about him or he takes part in a interview at some point you know the TRT question is going to be in there. However as it stands the UFC are happy to put him in fights knowing he is on TRT with his previous failed drugs test so on the same basis it shouldn't be held against him getting his deserved entry to the hall of fame.