With retirement plans canceled, Vitor Belfort targets two big Bellator names

On June 3, on the main card of UFC 212, MMA legend Vitor Belfort will take on Nate Marquardt in a fight that will go down as the last of his legendary career – at least, that was the original plan.

Since his retirement fight with Marquardt was announced, Belfort has backtracked on his retirement plans, suggesting that while this fight will be his last in the UFC, it will not be his last overall.

Since Belfort clarified on the circumstances of his fight with Marquardt, his manager Gustavo Lacerda has offered up even more information, speaking to the MMA Ganhador podcast.

“Technically and physically, Vitor has full conditions to continue fighting,” Lacerda said (translation via MMAFighting.com). “Of course, he has the hormonal deficiency everybody knows… But I think he lit up his fire again. We’ll go fight by fight. First, we’ll think about his fight with Nate Marquardt, and then we have more good things ahead.”

“What I think it’s possible to imagine is: what does the MMA fan wants? He wants to see Vitor vs. Wanderlei [Silva], wants to see Vitor vs. [Chael] Sonnen. He wants these type of fights. And it’s the type of fights that interests us. Vitor doesn’t need to prove anything regarding to ranking or title. The idea is to have fights that are interesting. Interest the fans, and interest the fighter.”

“I’m particularly crazy to see Vitor vs. Wanderlei,” he continued. “It’s a fight I pay to see. There are fights people want to see, and those are the fights that are interesting. Where it will be, and how it will be, I can’t say anything right now. But they might happen.”

So, sounds like Vitor Belfort is considering a jump to Bellator MMA when his UFC contract concludes with his bout with Marquardt. What do you think about this plan?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/25/2017.