Vitor Belfort has called out and turned down every fighter from Chael Sonnen to Tim Kennedy. He has also stated that he prefers a fight at light-heavyweight while he waits for the outcome of the upcoming title shot rematch between Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva. Now, he may have a chance to do that, because the UFC has offered him a headlining slot opposite Dan Henderson for a bout in November. The fight would take place in Brazil at a yet to be determined arena, and would serve as Ultimate Fight Night 31.
The two PRIDE veterans met back in 2006 at PRIDE 32 which took place in Las Vegas. Henderson picked up an unanimous decision win and went on to face Wanderlei Silva and went on to win the light-heavyweight title. That was probably the worst time of Belfort’s career since he had gone 2-5 and was popped for elevated testosterone in that fight. Both have had stellar careers since then though.
Belfort has gone on an amazing run of 9-2 with finishes in every fight except for win which includes six first round finishes as well. His only losses come to two of the best fighters in the world and title fights against Anderson Silva and Jon Jones. He has also been undefeated in Brazil for 2013 with knockouts over michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold.
Henderson may have very close split decisions to Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans in his last two fights, but before those two losses he had gone 8-3 since the first win over Belfort. All of those losses were in title fights as well. A knockout of Wanderlei Silva left him with two titles as he entered the UFC, and he lost both of those titles to Rampage Jackson, which was a really close fight, and to Anderson Silva in a second round submission loss. Then he won three fights on the way to a loss to Jake SHields where his back was hurt. After that fight he went on one of the best runs of his career.Knockouts of Babalu, Fedor, and Rafael Cavalcante where capped off with a fight of the century win over Mauricio Rua. If he takes out Belfort in impressive fashion he has a huge chance to redeem himself as he turn 43. Only time will tell who is the best, but Belfort is wagering a lot on a fight with very minimal reward beyond redeeming himself.