Vitor Belfort details his plans for a 'League of Legends' in the UFC: 'We need something new'

FORTALEZA, Brazil – As he celebrates the 20-year mark of his first UFC fight, Vitor Belfort is already putting some thought into what he calls his second journey.

Set to face Kelvin Gastelum (13-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 106, Belfort (25-13 MMA, 14-9 UFC) won’t commit to a timeline for his octagon retirement, limiting himself to a “soon” between sentences. In the meantime, the fighter is devoting his entrepreneurial skills to side projects.

Outside the octagon, Belfort is, as usual, working on multiple fronts that involve a book, gyms and fitness programs for “regular” people. Inside of it, he has some audacious ideas that, while not exactly new, he thinks might just find fertile ground in the current climate.

“I have even one idea I want to present for the UFC: It’s creating a new league inside the UFC,” Belfort told MMAjunkie. “We need something new – I can see now. These new owners, they want to create something new. There is a lot of changing. What I want to propose to them is creating a league inside the UFC, the Legend League, so we can bring back these retired people – bring them back to the game and sell more tickets – give more opportunities so they can make more revenue.

“I can lead that. We can make a title fight between me and one of the legends, and that can be a new program in the UFC.”

According to Belfort, who cited former UFC light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell, as well as UFC and WEC veteran and current broadcaster Brian Stann as possible draws in the new league, a way of facilitating these comebacks would be to create new rules – “maybe bigger gloves, no elbows, no knees, more time to rest.”

The outcome, he believes, would ultimately be a happy crowd.

“I have brains; I still have some left,” Belfort joked. “I want to be able to make the fans happy and give them what they need. Not just entertain them, but give them the pleasure to see legends. I think that’s what they love to do. Why just retire them? Bring them back.”

Before facing legends, however, Belfort has in front of him a hungry 25-year-old who, in spite of “The Ultimate Fighter 17” crown and undeniable momentum coming into the scrap, stands out amongst the Brazilian middleweight’s recent record of fellow veterans.

But that’s no problem for Belfort, who says he’d taken a scrap against a fresh-off-a-loss Derek Brunson before Gastelum came along. His interest, he says, is in fighting. And, unlike some of his colleagues, he’s not going to pick and choose how that comes about.

“I want to fight guys that are relevant,” Belfort said. “I just don’t want to pick fights – because fighters are now picking fights that they have a probability to win. The sport is becoming not like it used to be before. Now, fighters are taking fights that, ‘I think I can win this.’

“I think I’m the older generation, where we want to make fans happy with fights and fights that bring challenges and Kelvin is a guy who brings that challenge.”

The middleweight scrap headlines UFC Fight Night 106, which takes place at Centro de Formacao Olimpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil. The FS1-televised card follows early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

Currently ranked No. 9 fighter in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings, Belfort sees great things happening in No. 15 Gastelum’s future. Just, you know, not necessarily now.

“He’s pretty relevant still and I think he’s going to have a bright future, but this Saturday is going to be my Saturday,” Belfort said.

For more from Belfort, check out the video above.

And for more on UFC Fight Night 106, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.