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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Vitor Belfort scored his second straight stoppage win on Saturday night, his fourth straight in the middleweight division, knocking out the final Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold with a crazy spinning back kick to the face.
Belfort started out strong early at UFC on FX 8 in Brazil, pressing the action early and trying to keep Rockhold out of his element. He landed a few early strikes, but it was enough to keep Rockhold off his game.
As he did just that, Belfort connected on a sick spinning back kick to the jaw that sent Rockhold down, and he pounced with a flurry of strikes that put Rockhold out cold. It was a crazy finish, and Belfort moved himself back to the front of the pack in the middleweight division.
It was a massive setback for Rockhold, who had a high opinion of his place in the division into Saturday's event, but for Belfort, the win just might move him back into title contention in the 185 lb. division. After all, at 185 lbs., he's stopped Yoshihiro Akiyama, Anthony Johnson, Michael Bisping, and Luke Rockhold in succession.
Indeed, his only losses since returning to the UFC in 2009 have come against the two best fighters in the sport in Anderson Silva and Jon Jones. And given the way he's fought recently, he might get another shot at Silva in quick fashion.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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