(Photo:Sherdog.com)

So 2010, looks to be well on the road to another injury plagued year and it really should be expected considering the nature of the sport.  Because it is a sport and entertainment… one man’s set back becomes another man’s opportunity.  The set back in this case was for UFC veteran and recent returnee, Vitor Belfort, who was slated to meet Anderson Silva in a title match @ UFC 112 after easily dispatching Rich Franklin in his first fight back with the organization.  In the lucky corner, stands Demian Maia, who was edging so close to this fight last year, before suffering a devastating KO loss to a surging Nate  Marquardt that dropped him back down a few rungs.

With Belfort injured, the logical choice would have been Chael Sonnen who has been mouthing off about wanting a chance to expose Anderson Silva and just came off a big win over fellow top contender Nate Marquardt.  With Marquardt getting the loss and Sonnen too injured from the last fight to compete so soon, the UFC turned to Maia as their replacement pick.

As per the Dana White on UFC.com;

“It’s always tough when a top fighter like Vitor Belfort has to pull out of a big title fight, but we have found a high quality replacement,” said UFC President Dana White. “Top contender Chael Sonnen was not available due to injuries sustained in his fight with Nate   Marquardt so top six middleweight Demian Maia will step in to fight for the title. Maia is an Abu Dhabi grappling champion, a five-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion, and he is 12-1 in MMA and coming off a win over Dan Miller at UFC 109. Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia will be a matchup between MMA’s best striker and MMA’s best grappler.”

So, while it may not be the top 2 Middleweight fighters in the UFC competing for the title at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi, it is still a pretty intriguing match-up.  Silva has shown some vulnerability on the ground and Demian Maia is undoubtedly one of the best ground fighters in the organization.  Maia showcased some budding striking skills at UFC 109 where he pulled out a convincing decision victory over Dan Miller in what was almost purely a stand-up fight.  That means little against a top level striker like Silva, but it may give Maia just enough time to get the fight to the ground and is at least an indication that Maia is realistic about the dangers of staying one dimensional while trying to make a run at a the title.

So… Maia can certainly get KO’s quickly like we saw from Marquardt, so the smart money is still on Silva to end this early. If he plays around too much though, and doesn’t take Maia as a serious opponent as he has been prone to do in recent fights, Silva could end up on the wrong side of some serious BJJ skills and wondering what went wrong.

It’s not the fight I would necessarily pick given a single chance to upset Silva’s title run, but when it airs on April 10th, it’s still a fight that I would pay to see.

(Photos:Sherdog.com) 

Well, it didn’t take long for this one to fall apart.  The UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout between Vitor Belfort and Anderson Silva, tentatively scheduled for April’s UFC 112 event in Abu Dhabi, has apparently been scratched due to a should injury suffered by Belfort.

Belfort had been attempting to train with the injury (avoiding the use of that arm) but after receiving a proper diagnosis, has been forced out of the fight. 

tatame.com posted the following bit of news on the subject:

“Jayme Sandall, Karate trained of the challenger, revealed to TATAME.com that Belfort had a shoulder injury, but he doesn’t know how bad it is. “He was training but not using the arm for a long time because of the injury, he said he’d stop for a while. He said he’d have it scanned to know how bad it is, but I don’t talk with him for 15 days and I don’t know about the results”.

In case this news confirms, it’ll be the second time that the UFC is forced to postpone the battle, which was set to the UFC 108 event in January 2, but Silva had to cancel the fight due to an elbow surgery. “

The news was also confirmed, albeit in minimalist terms,  via Dana White’s Twitter   where he posted the following short story;

 So…bad news for fight fans, but maybe good news for Chael Sonnen who has made a lot of recent comments about being someone who can expose Anderson Silva.  Sonnen was scheduled to fight the winner of Silva vs Belfort anyway after his recent domination of Nate Marquardt at UFC 109 placed him in clear title contention.  Looks like Sonnen will get a chance to back up his comments sooner than later.

(Photo: Kenneth Cappello- as posted at vitorbelfort.com)

Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort first debuted with the UFC back in 1997, and after moving between the UFC and Pride (among other ) organizations over the past 12 years, has come back home again to make a run at the Middleweight title.  Belfort is known for fantastic hand-speed and KO power and with the rest of the division… and some of the Light Heavyweights already taken out by Anderson Silva … Vitor’s return to the UFC was certainly geared towards a title match.

Taking a very serious fight against Rich Franklin, Belfort was able to step immediately into title contention after stopping Franklin in  a very quick 3 minutes by TKO. Prior to that fight, only Anderson Silva had been able to stop Franklin in his 7 year career with the UFC and considering Franklin has only ever been beaten by the MMA elite (Anderson Silva x 2, Dan Henderson, Lyoto Machida)  just getting a win, let alone a stoppage over Franklin is a considerable achievement for any fighter.

After going a perfect 10-0 in the UFC, Anderson Silva who has definitely been praised as one of the best MMA talents in the world, has begun to wear on fans a bit … hey, it’s human nature to get bored.  While he has been a great champion in terms of highlight reel footage, he has also had some lacluster moments in the Octagon  which included a failure to engage and finish and moments of extreme showboating (see Leites, Cote, Griffin).

It seems the fans are ready for a change, if not a challenge and Belfort is the UFC’s answer to this dilemma.  While Belfort’s career record of 19-8-0 is not as stellar as Anderson Silva (25-4-0),  or even Rich Franklin (25-5 0)… he has a lot of tools to challenge the champion; namely that speed, power and the intangible factor of just riding a hot streak.  Belfort is peaking while Anderson, while greatly skilled is stagnating while discussing boxing matches and retirement.

 The 2 fighters are set to face each other at UFC 112 on April 10th in Abu Dhabi, in what has been reported to be an outdoor venue which should be another interesting component of the fight. Regardless of the outcome, with a challenger like Belfort, Silva will not have an opportunity to play games in the Octagon, at least not without risking his belt in the process.

Both fighters have never been KO’d, but Anderson Silva has never been TKO’d either and Belfort has on 2 occasions in the past…both times by Randy Couture.  If Silva can take out Belfort, then a chatty Chael Sonnen is ready, willing and waiting in the wings for his crack at the belt.

From a pure fighting perspective, you have to appreciate Anderson Silva’s skills although he has never really appealed as a UFC champion in terms of promotability.  The low PPV buy rate for Anderson Silva main events have been widely discussed in the past and generally result in the need for a solid co-main event to draw the fans into parting with 50 bucks.  Based on that fact alone, here’s betting that the UFC wouldn’t mind some new talent sporting the Middleweight Championship belt in 2010.

As usual…time will tell. 

 (Photo:Sherdog.com)

Ariel Helwani from MMAFighting.com had a chance to catch up with Chael Sonnen after his tough but convincing victory over Nate “The Great” Marquardt last night and as usual a lot of the comments from Chael were pretty entertaining.

When asked about his future title shot against the winner of  Vitor Belfort vs Anderson Silva, Chael was quick to note that he hopes the winner in Silva.  Not because he necessarily wants to beat the better fighter to earn the title, but because “Vitor is the better fighter.”

Sonnen went on to state that he will have lots to say about Silva if that match up becomes a reality and that leading up to the fight;

“It will be a verbal beatdown.  Anderson Silva will be in tears before it’s all over”. Upping the ante a bit more, Sonnen stated (about Silva) ” Look…this guy is no more real than the Loch Ness Monster and if he needs me to expose him I will.  I tell ya, the guys in the back know who the tough guy is.  If we walk in the back and Anderson says put on Hip Hop and Chael says put on Country, I guarantee it’s gonna be a Hoe Down… So as far as him being the bully of the playground, his 15 minutes of fame are up.”

Classic commentary for sure… (Click the play button to check out the full interview below)