RIO DE JANEIRO – Just two weeks into his training camp for UFC 212, things weren’t looking great for Vitor Belfort.
A cut across his forehead required 10 stitches, forcing him to slow down his preparation for Nate Marquardt. Such is the life of a 40-year-old MMA fighter who’s competed for over 20 years.
But after out-pointing Marquardt (35-18-2 MMA, 13-11 UFC) for a unanimous decision in the pay-per-view main card of Saturday’s event at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Belfort (26-13 MMA, 15-10 UFC) is feeling rejuvenated and content to ride out the rest of his career with the UFC.
“That’s the place I want to be, and a lot of things we can change,” he said. “We can come with the legends league. A lot of things can change.”
After a loss to Kelvin Gastelum in March, Belfort sounded like a man who wanted a change of career. He said he had one last fight on his contract and wanted to compete one last time in Brazil. He indicated he wanted to fight legends of the sport and that he might not do it in the UFC.
But after Gastelum tested positive for marijuana and his win was overturned, Belfort walked back his earlier talk. And after beating Marquardt, he said he would fight five more times before fans saw the last of him.
First, he’ll need to negotiate a new deal. As it turns out, he has one fight remaining on his current contract.
“I have a great team that represents me, and I’m sure my role is to make the UFC not only entertaining, but a great sport,” Belfort said. “We both have to grow together – the fighters and the UFC.”
In the meantime, Belfort, who celebrated his 20th year in the UFC in February, is intent on remaking himself yet again. He compared the industry-leader to Uber in the way it revitalized business and thinks the promotion can remold itself in kind.
“I believe our sport has a lot of room to grow, and UFC is the place,” Belfort said. “And the people there, the new (owners), they’re very smart. I believe we’re going to see big things ahead.”
Although his would-be farewell fight didn’t exactly turn out the way he planned, in preparation or execution, Belfort pointed out one obvious way he had changed himself – the length of time he fought.
Known as a first-round knockout artist, Belfort went three rounds with Marquardt and picked up a unanimous decision, his first in the UFC and first since a 2007 victory over James Zikic in the now-defunct Cage Rage promotion.
“I wanted to knock him out, and I hurt him pretty bad in the second and third round,” Belfort said. “He was throwing some kicks just to buy time. But I wanted to fight three rounds. We are reinventing Vitor Belfort again, so we are changing a lot of things in the game. There were a lot of things I was doing wrong.”
After a 1-4 run with one no contest, Belfort is back on the right foot again with his long and storied career.
For more on UFC 212, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
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