Tim Kennedy vs. Vitor Belfort? Belfort would rather fight at heavyweight

A middleweight bout between Vitor Belfort and Tim Kennedy looks to have been a very real possibility – but according to a report out of Brazil, Belfort may have nixed things.

Kennedy (16-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC) on Friday said on his official Twitter account that he would be heading to Brazil to fight Belfort (23-10 MMA, 12-6 UFC). The same night, UFC President Dana White said the bout was being put together.

But according to a report from Brazilian news outlet Globo.com, through its Combate site, Belfort was offered the fight by UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta – but, through his wife and manager, Joana Prado, turned the bout down.

The reason, Prado told Combate, is that Belfort only wants to fight at middleweight if he’s fighting for the title. With former champ Anderson Silva booked for a Dec. 28 rematch with new champion Chris Weidman, that means Belfort would rather wait for the winner of that fight.

Instead, Prado said, Belfort is willing to fight in the meantime – just not at middleweight unless a title is on the line.

“It doesn’t make sense that Vitor, who is No. 1 in the rankings, should fight against No. 2, No. 6 or No. 10 in his weight class,” Prado said. “His next fight in the middleweight class will be against the winner of Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva. If the UFC wishes him to fight in any class above middleweight, we are at their disposal. It can be anyone, Tim Kennedy, even Roy Nelson, but it has to be at 205 pounds or heavyweight – he’ll even fight as a heavyweight. Vitor wants to fight, but in his weight class, only if for the belt.”

When asked about the report on Saturday night following UFC on FOX 8, White said he hadn’t heard that Belfort was uninterested. But he also made clear Belfort wouldn’t be next to fight for the title. The winner, perhaps. But previous hopes that he would be next rather than the scheduled rematch don’t hold water, White said.

“Vitor, for some insane reason, believes he should get the fight with Weidman or Anderson Silva right now,” White said. “He’s out of his mind.”

Weidman knocked Silva out earlier this month in a major upset at UFC 162, ending the Brazilian’s 16-fight UFC unbeaten streak and knocking him from his throne as the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter.

When Kennedy said he’d be fighting Belfort in Brazil, he didn’t say when. The UFC has two upcoming cards in Brazil. UFC 163 takes place Saturday in Rio de Janeiro, and UFC Fight Night 28 takes place Sept. 4 in Belo Horizonte. Marshall Zelaznik, the UFC’s director of international development, this past week told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that he could not confirm a rumored Oct. 9 card in Brazil, but that the promotion indeed is planning additional trips to the South American country before the year is out.

Belfort is coming off back-to-back head-kick knockouts, both of which earned him “Knockout of the Night” bonus awards. In January, he stopped Michael Bisping in Brazil, and at UFC on FX 8 in May, he caught former Strikeforce middleweight champ Luke Rockhold with a spinning heel kick.

Kennedy won his UFC debut earlier this month with a unanimous decision victory over Roger Gracie at UFC 162, but it was a win he wasn’t thrilled with.

Prior to his win against Gracie, he submitted Trevor Smith in the third round at Strikeforce’s promotional finale in January. That got him back in the win column after a loss to Rockhold in a Strikeforce 185-pound title fight. Like Belfort, he has won four of his past five fights.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Vitor Belfort)