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Anderson Silva Vs Vitor Belfort: UFC 126 Main Event Breakdown

By Sean Farrell

On Saturday, the pound for pound king Anderson “the Spider” Silva returns to the Octagon after successfully defending his crown against Chael Sonnen. The challenger this time around is none other than fellow Brazilian and former training partner Vitor “the Phenom” Belfort who has been on an emotional tear winning his last 5 bouts.

Belfort has won every fight and returned to his old form once he received the closure of his sister’s death after 3 years of not knowing anything. Priscilla Belfort was kidnapped and held for ransom back in 2004 and killed, the announced of her death wasn’t revealed until Elaine Paiva confessed to the murder in 2007 Belfort has been unstoppable since.

Although Belfort isn’t the busiest fighter in terms of schedule, he is a very dangerous opponent for Silva. Belfort excels in the standup with his impeccable hand speed as well as being very well versed on the ground in the submission game.

Belfort has a major flaw in his game though, and that is you never know which Vitor Belfort is going to show up for the fight a flaw which looks addressed now that he has his closure.

Belfort when on his game his very well rounded and poses many problems for opposing fighters with the fastest hand speed to ever grace the Octagon and good takedown ability and ground game. The champion Silva on the other hand, has won his last 13 bouts including 12 in the UFC including a record tying seven successful defenses of “His” belt.

Silva is arguably the pound for pound king because of his track record and capabilities inside the Octagon. Silva possesses the best standup striking skills in all of the middleweight division and possibly mixed martial arts, landing over 70 percent of all his strikes and winning by knockout in over 55 percent of his fights. During Silva’s brilliant career compiling a record of 27-4 he’s ended 20 of them early, 15 by knockout and 5 by way of submission. At UFC 126, the styles clash between these two can lead too nothing short of a striking spectacle but Silva’s reputation and skill set leaves him the favorite. Expect Belfort to try and pressure Silva much like Sonnen did but since his wrestling base isn’t as solid as Sonnen’s, Belfort should use his hand speed to close the space much like his fight with Wanderlei Silva.

Silva as usual will not engage the fight and will be patient and work his game plan as he always does and let the fight come to him. Belfort can push the pace like no other and it can either be genius or sheer stupidity because you should expect Silva to control the pace of the fight and where it goes. Silva should retain his title and be collecting his 14th win in a row and setting the UFC record for 8 consecutive successful defenses, this fight should not go the distance regardless of the victor.

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