Vitor Belfort agrees Dan Henderson rematch
by Jack Broadey @J3cK_b
Vitor Belfort has not seemed to need Joe Silva's help in matching him recently. He's gone from calling out Chris Weidman, on to Chael Sonnen and finally settled on a Dan Henderson rematch.
Logically the fight makes no sense. He didn't want to fight Tim Kennedy as he wasn't ranked in the top 10. He didn't want Sonnen as he wanted a shot at Weidman's Middleweight belt. As soon as Sonnen found a matchup with Wanderlei Silva he suddenly became interested again. In short Belfort is a hard man to read. If the reason for avoiding the Kennedy fight was fair and logical the Henderson fight should surely fall under the same banner.
Henderson is obviously a danger and we all know what he's capable of on a good day. Are those good days behind him now? He's not ranked at Middleweight or Light Heavyweight, he doesn't fight very often, he's lost two fights in a row and Belfort has already beaten him, albeit 7 years ago. The fight smacks of Belfort taking the biggest name available willing to travel to Brazil. He keeps saying he's not hiding in Brazil to get away with his TRT usage but the fights in Brazil keep coming. The longer fights like this one spring up the more questions will be asked.
From Dan Henderson's point of view it must of been an easy decision to make to accept the fight. From being on the cusp of a title shot to being on a two fight skid is an extreme in itself. Neither loss was particularly damaging, infact there is an argument Henderson could of got the nod in both the Machida and Evans fights. The fact he didn't puts him right to the back of the que and makes him irrelevant again. A win over a Vitor Belfort jacked up on TRT in Brazil is quite possibly the best win Dan Henderson could get right now.
Belfort is the standout middleweight contender and should Henderson beat him he probably catapults himself into that one last title fight he desperately craves. A win for Belfort again does nothing for him realistically. He's expected to win. He has beat another unranked opponent and won't earn a title shot with a win. Matchmaking has been very curious with Belfort lately. It's almost as if they want him to lose as they have no idea what to do with him.
The rematch will headline UFC Fight Night 32 in Golania, Brazil on November 9th. No other contests have yet been announced.
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