Top-ranked middleweight wants to fight the winner of Silva and Weidman.
Fighters in the UFC can generally be put into two different categories, those who can promote a fight with all the showmanship of a ringmaster.
Then there are those who hope by sheer weight of impressive wins and just enough fan hype, agrants them earn the title shots they believe they deserve.
Vitor Belfort is the later.
With Belfort winning four out of his last four fights, and his last two-in-a-row in impressive fashion he has stated he wants to meet the winner from the Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman bout at UFC 162 for the belt.
His latest two wins have coincided with him returning to middleweight, after a failed bid to remove light heavyweight king Jon Jones from his throne at UFC 152.
But his late career resurgence has also gone hand-in-hand with his name heavily mentioned with the use of Hormone Replacement Therapy.
Despite others fighters admitting to using the legal method, Belfort has become the poster boy for the practice that some deem to be against the spirit of competition.
Controversy aside, Belfort knows that at 36 the amount of chances he has to again be crowned world champion are dwindling, which is why he is not sitting back and hoping to receive the title shot he says he deserves.
“I don’t think it’s time to ask; I think it’s time to earn,” Belfort (23-10 MMA, 12-6 UFC) said.
“That’s my ethic in life. Life is about earning. Sometimes in life, you look at very rich guys who have been given everything, and they wind up crashing.
“They lose their family’s fortune. They didn’t know how to keep it because they didn’t earn it. That’s how I go through life.
“I go to the gym every day. I work hard. I know I will bring that title back. But it’s not about waiting for the time. It’s about making my time now.”
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