Vitor Belfort kommer den 11 mars att kliva in i oktogonen då han möter Kelvin Gastelum, en match som äger rum under ”UFC: Fight Night 106”. Belfort har förlorat tre av sina fyra senaste matcher, där samtliga förluster tillkommit via TKO, men det är ingenting som tynger honom
Belfort känner sig nämligen som en helt ny människa och detta hade han att säga om matchen och hur trött han är på fighters som väljer sina motståndare, via ”MMAJunkie”:
(I’m) literally a different person. Totally motivated and happy. It’s something I can’t even explain. (The changes) have been made with tears and blood, but they were made. I’ve always been able to reinvent myself. And I think this is a good quality, people who reinvent themselves, people who won’t let the circumstances dictate how they’re supposed to live. On the contrary – (you need to) turn the circumstances into paint with which to write a new story. That’s what I did.
He asked for it, and he got it. That guy who’s fighting Anderson Silva (Derek Brunson) turned down a fight with me. My fight was going to be with Brunson, and he declined it. Gastelum, who was excited about his win, asked to fight me, and I said ‘yes’ right away. He’s a guy who goes after it. He’s young, tends to want to show what he can do. That’s all I want, a fighter like him, who’s going to push me to put on a good show. I’m very happy.
(My last opponents, Ronaldo Souza and Gegard Mousasi) are unfortunately struggling with a problem. Now nobody wants to fight them? How does that work? Now fighters pick their own fights. There’s no respect. People don’t want to be known for whom they fought against, they want to be known for how they fought. Odds of winning, odds of losing.
Now we see that the titleholder is a wimp. A guy who doesn’t honor – ‘Oh, now I’m injured, I can’t fight. ‘Jacare,’ I won’t fight you, I’ll fight the guy from the lower division (Tyron Woodley).’ This is a guy who’s picking fights. This is what he is leaving for his fans, a legacy of wimpiness. You can’t do that. When a guy is the champion, he needs to fight the best. I think that’s the real champion.
Sist vi såg Belfort inne i oktogonen slogs han ut av Gegard Mousasi då de möttes under UFC 204, matchen innan slogs han ut av Ronaldo ”Jacare” Souza vid UFC 198.
