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Post by Bartman on Apr 21, 2011 20:55:22 GMT -5
A tantalizing matchup between middleweight superstars Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) and Vitor Belfort (19-9 MMA, 8-4 UFC) has been booked for UFC 133.
UFC president Dana White today revealed the booking to ESPN .
White also confirmed the long-rumored Aug. 6 event will take place in Philadelphia. The city's Wells Fargo Center is expected to host the pay-per-view event.
"Verbal agreements are in for a battle between two of the most exciting fighters in the middleweight division," White told ESPN. "Coming off three straight 'Fight of the Night' performances, Yoshihiro Akiyama will take on former UFC light-heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort in Philadelphia."
Despite his stature in the sport, Akiyama likely finds himself in a must-win situation. Despite a history of entertaining octagon contests, Akiyama has dropped consecutive outings to Michael Bisping and Chris Leben, and his lone UFC win came via controversial split decision in a UFC 100 bout with Alan Belcher.
Belfort fights for the first time since a UFC 126 knockout loss to current UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Belfort had been linked to a "UFC: Rio" bout with Wanderlei Silva, but "The Axe Murderer" instead successfully lobbied for a summer matchup with Leben.
Credit: MMAJunkie.com
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Not sure how I feel about this match, Bisping/Belfort would have made much more sense.
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Post by Mr. Old School™ on Apr 21, 2011 22:27:18 GMT -5
I do not get this one at all. Why and how does Akiyama keep getting these main-event type fights?? All he's been doing is losing and if he loses this one, he's gotta be done in the UFC.
I mean, he barely beat Alan Belcher in his UFC debut with a split decision victory and has lost ever since to Chris Leben by triangle submission and Michael Bisping by decision.
I don't think Akiyama deserves a high profile fight like this when you take into consideration the losing streak he's been on. Vitor deserves better. I'm not sure who Vitor should fight, but it should be someone who is ranked a bit higher than Akiyama.
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s13driver
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Post by s13driver on Apr 21, 2011 23:10:25 GMT -5
I do not get this one at all. Why and how does Akiyama keep getting these main-event type fights?? All he's been doing is losing and if he loses this one, he's gotta be done in the UFC. I mean, he barely beat Alan Belcher in his UFC debut with a split decision victory and has lost ever since to Chris Leben by triangle submission and Michael Bisping by decision. I don't think Akiyama deserves a high profile fight like this when you take into consideration the losing streak he's been on. Vitor deserves better. I'm not sure who Vitor should fight, but it should be someone who is ranked a bit higher than Akiyama. agreed. I don't think that Akiyama even deserves to be on the main card anymore. Move him to prelims until he's established a couple decisive victories against lower ranked fighters. |
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Post by James Hetfield on Apr 21, 2011 23:44:06 GMT -5
He's an exciting fighter and it's a good fight. Can't say too much for some of the guys who have had high-profile fights lately. Akiyama always comes to fight, no matter what.
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Post by kurtangleisgod on Apr 21, 2011 23:53:16 GMT -5
Not to mention, Vitor did kinda look like a bitch last time out. I know it was against Silva, but still. You tke someone coming off a devastating loss who should be pumped, and osmeone who alwyas put on exciting fights and is desperate for a win, and it should be a good matchup
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Post by x513xkernal on Apr 22, 2011 0:34:05 GMT -5
I hope Vitor runs through him, and gets back at Silva. I'm a huge fan of upsets. I want this to be the year GSP and Silva both lose their titles.
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Post by Mr. Old School™ on Apr 22, 2011 2:58:56 GMT -5
He's an exciting fighter and it's a good fight. Can't say too much for some of the guys who have had high-profile fights lately. Akiyama always comes to fight, no matter what. He may be an exciting fighter and always comes to fight, but giving him a fight with Vitor, is almost like rewarding him. He certainly hasn't shown to me that he deserves to fight someone as good as Vitor is. He lost to Leben and Bisping, which means he's got two big losses in a row and I would believe he would be way below Vitor in the rankings. I mean, Vitor just had a title shot and lost to arguably the greatest fighter in the world and in his next fight he gets Akiyama??...Wow... They are rewarding Akiyama, BIG TIME. There's no way he deserves to be fighting Vitor Belfort considering his two back-to-back losses. Belfort should be fighting someone like Brian Stann, considering he just beat Leben. That would make them about equal in the rankings, in my opinion. I mean, Leben beat Akiyama, so he's ahead of Akiyama in the rankings, but recently lost to Stann, but he would still be ahead of Akiyama at this point. I think a fight between Belfort and Stann would make more sense, rankings wise. That's just my take on it. I'm not the match-maker. Joe Silva is and he is clearly giving Akiyama EVERY chance in the world to stay in the UFC....  |
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Sandy
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Post by Sandy on Apr 22, 2011 4:11:03 GMT -5
I would actually like to see Stann vs. Belfort.
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dante123
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Post by dante123 on Apr 22, 2011 14:27:31 GMT -5
all of his fights have been fight of the night
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Post by Mr. Old School™ on Apr 22, 2011 15:27:44 GMT -5
all of his fights have been fight of the night So what. May have been fight of the night, but they are losses. How does a guy who got tapped out against Chris Leben and then loses a decision to Michael Bisping get to fight the former #1 contender?? Can someone PLEASE explain that to me?? Just makes no sense what-so-ever. |
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Post by Bartman on Apr 22, 2011 15:47:13 GMT -5
He's an exciting fighter and it's a good fight. Can't say too much for some of the guys who have had high-profile fights lately. Akiyama always comes to fight, no matter what. He may be an exciting fighter and always comes to fight, but giving him a fight with Vitor, is almost like rewarding him. He certainly hasn't shown to me that he deserves to fight someone as good as Vitor is. He lost to Leben and Bisping, which means he's got two big losses in a row and I would believe he would be way below Vitor in the rankings. I mean, Vitor just had a title shot and lost to arguably the greatest fighter in the world and in his next fight he gets Akiyama??...Wow... They are rewarding Akiyama, BIG TIME. There's no way he deserves to be fighting Vitor Belfort considering his two back-to-back losses. Belfort should be fighting someone like Brian Stann, considering he just beat Leben. That would make them about equal in the rankings, in my opinion. I mean, Leben beat Akiyama, so he's ahead of Akiyama in the rankings, but recently lost to Stann, but he would still be ahead of Akiyama at this point. I think a fight between Belfort and Stann would make more sense, rankings wise. That's just my take on it. I'm not the match-maker. Joe Silva is and he is clearly giving Akiyama EVERY chance in the world to stay in the UFC.... Well said. Definitely agree with you. I forgot about Stann, him vs Belfort makes sense too. I still stand firm on saying that he should've fought Bisping next. Doesn't make sense for Bisping to wait for Sonnen, and Belfort is the next top 10 fighter for Bisping. |
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Post by Ian from 616Entertainment. on Apr 22, 2011 17:59:41 GMT -5
My first thought was Belfort by KO. Now that I'm thinking about it, though...
Wait, nah.
Belfort by KO.
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Post by James Hetfield on Apr 22, 2011 18:13:46 GMT -5
all of his fights have been fight of the night So what. May have been fight of the night, but they are losses. How does a guy who got tapped out against Chris Leben and then loses a decision to Michael Bisping get to fight the former #1 contender?? Can someone PLEASE explain that to me?? Just makes no sense what-so-ever. Vitor isn't the "#1 contender". He did nothing at middleweight that made him worthy of fighting Anderson. Vitor was put in there because UFC had no one else that people were interested in. |
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PrideFcF
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Post by PrideFcF on Apr 22, 2011 18:17:01 GMT -5
all of his fights have been fight of the night So what. May have been fight of the night, but they are losses. How does a guy who got tapped out against Chris Leben and then loses a decision to Michael Bisping get to fight the former #1 contender??Can someone PLEASE explain that to me?? Just makes no sense what-so-ever. Well if you really break it down, the real question is why was Vitor even #1 contender to begin with? He beat two lower tier MW's (sorry Lindland) in Affliction, and then beat Franklin at 195. A lot of us definitely wanted to see him fight Anderson, but he did sort of leapfrog other contenders at MW. He was made #1 contender by default, and not because he climbed the ranks at MW. So with that said, I see nothing wrong with this fight happening between him and Akiyama. We get to see where Belfort stands at 185 in the UFC, and where Akiyama stands in the UFC all together. |
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PrideFcF
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Post by PrideFcF on Apr 22, 2011 18:17:54 GMT -5
And boom, James nailed it just a little before I could post.
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Post by shogungi on Apr 22, 2011 21:24:15 GMT -5
Say what you want about Vitor but Sexyama is being handed another step up, after losing to Leban he was supposed to fight Nate but he pulled out and now he is fighting Vitor, I know Vitor should have never been close to number one contender but it's still a step up.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2011 12:24:16 GMT -5
all of his fights have been fight of the night So what. May have been fight of the night, but they are losses. How does a guy who got tapped out against Chris Leben and then loses a decision to Michael Bisping get to fight the former #1 contender?? Can someone PLEASE explain that to me?? Just makes no sense what-so-ever. Belfort didn't exactly deserve a title shot, Dana over-sold it, and now he's saying, "Oh sh*t, Belfort needs a win to make him look good on the rankings" so he gave him someone who is sure to lose, but will still put on a great performance. |
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Post by Bartman on Apr 23, 2011 17:32:00 GMT -5
So what. May have been fight of the night, but they are losses. How does a guy who got tapped out against Chris Leben and then loses a decision to Michael Bisping get to fight the former #1 contender?? Can someone PLEASE explain that to me?? Just makes no sense what-so-ever. Belfort didn't exactly deserve a title shot, Dana over-sold it, and now he's saying, "Oh sh*t, Belfort needs a win to make him look good on the rankings" so he gave him someone who is sure to lose, but will still put on a great performance. Come on now, sure he may be past his better days but saying Rich Franklin was sure to lose that fight, is a bit much. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2011 21:22:13 GMT -5
Belfort didn't exactly deserve a title shot, Dana over-sold it, and now he's saying, "Oh sh*t, Belfort needs a win to make him look good on the rankings" so he gave him someone who is sure to lose, but will still put on a great performance. Come on now, sure he may be past his better days but saying Rich Franklin was sure to lose that fight, is a bit much. I wasnt talking about Ace, I'm talking about Sexyama |
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Post by Bartman on Apr 24, 2011 22:08:28 GMT -5
Come on now, sure he may be past his better days but saying Rich Franklin was sure to lose that fight, is a bit much. I wasnt talking about Ace, I'm talking about Sexyama ahh, alright, that makes much more sense, lol. |
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