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After years of chasing the Phenom, Gegard Mousasi finally gets a crack at the UFC legend.
While the UFC has yet to officially announce the match-up, Combate broke the news on Wednesday and it was reported by several media outlets already:
Gegard Mousasi vs. Vitor Belfort set for UFC 204 (@guicruzzz) https://t.co/hMGvJ9qHKw pic.twitter.com/ZmpZhbjRAq
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) July 27, 2016
As reported, the two will square off at UFC 204 which is expected to take place in Manchester, England.
Brazilian Hunting
7th ranked middleweight Mousasi is coming off a pair of victories against Brazilians in Thales Leites and Thiago Santos. He is expected to continue his Brazilian hunting against the 4th ranked Belfort who is coming off a defeat to Jacare Souza at UFC 198.
Mousasi is a decorated veteran with a record of 39-6-2 with 20 knockouts and 12 submissions. He is 5-1 in his last six bouts with his only loss coming at the hands of Uriah Hall. Mousasi is a former Strikeforce, Cage Warriors and Dream Middleweight champion. He won a 4th title by capturing the Dream Light Heavyweight title in 2010. Mousasi owns notable wins over Jacare Souza, Melvin Manhoef, Ilir Latifi, Ovince Saint Preux and even heavyweights Mark Hunt and Gary Goodridge.
No Longer The Phenom
Belfort himself is not stranger to fighting bigger men. Known as the Phenom for his explosive style of fighting when he started out as a teenager in 1997, Belfort won the UFC 12 Heavyweight title finals by by knocking out Scott Ferrozzo. Belfort is also known knocking out the legendary Tank Abbott at UFC 13 and stopping Wanderlei Silva in his Light Heavyweight debut in 1998. B
elfort won the UFC Light Heavyweight title at UFC 46 with a one round KO of another legend in Randy Couture. Belfort is 7-3 in his last 3 fights with all wins by either knockout or submission. However, since the ban on the Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) he has looked anything but the Phenom. Belfort was medically allowed to do TRT but with its ban in the UFC starting 2014, he is just 1-2 in his last three fights, losing to Chris Weidman last year and Souza last May.
Mousasi turned down an opportunity to fight Anderson Silva at UFC 198 and instead offered to fight the Spider at UFC 200. Silva later underwent gall bladder surgery and missed UFC 198. Mousasi then called out then champion Luke Rockhold and Belfort. He didn’t get the call to fight Rockhold but now he will finally get his hands on Vitor Belfort.
A rematch between current UFC Middleweight champion Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson is expected to headline UFC 204.
