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Sometimes, it’s not about what you do, but how you do it.
After 120 seconds of unbridled fighter inertia at UFC 103’s Main Event... ZIP. ZAP. BING. BANG. Done.
Wow. Vitor Belfort unleashed his Tasmanian devil-like flurry of fists onto Rich Franklin so quickly Franklin probably thought he was still watching Belfort’s tapes on fast-forward.
After over a decade of disappointment, has Belfort finally blossomed into the fighter everyone dreamed he could develop into after quickly demolishing Wanderlei? Almost 90 UFC's later, Belfort has not only managed to get himself into title contention with Anderson Silva, but did the unthinkable and leapfrogged Henderson and Marquardt in the pecking order (Hendo just can’t get a break here huh?). Even though Hendo and Nate the Great are both coming off impressive recent KO's themselves, Belfort did his bidding against a much better and proven fighter. Yet even more pertinent than that... he might actually beat Anderson Silva.
Yes. You read that correctly. I know its pure MMA heresy to even bring this up, but here I go. Anderson Silva is too slow to hang with Vitor’s lightning quick hands and his head is in the wrong place. With all Dana White’s worshipping flattery, Anderson has been led to believe that he is God’s striking gift to the Middleweight Class of the MMA world. Dana’s got Silva believing he’s so invincible at 185, Silva is daydreaming about fighting guys like Fedor, Roy Jones Jr., and light heavyweights.
With all of Silva’s insane head movement, pin-point precision punching, and overall technical skills, it’s practically unfathomable to imagine him getting out-skilled by a striking fighter. But none of that will matter against Belfort. Why? Because the unchangeable truth remains; Anderson Silva is too slow for Vitor Belfort. Not only will Silva lose, but Silva will suffer his first TKO defeat ever at the speeding bullet hands of Belfort.
It’s not what Belfort does. It’s how fast he does it.
Boiling in disagreeing rage? Come shut me up at the Torch Boards.
[Anderson Silva art credit Cory Gould (c) MMATorch]
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