More than four years since his most recent appearance inside the cage, Vitor Belfort’s name still resonates with much of the mixed martial arts world.
As Belfort plots his next move at the age of 45, a look at some of the rivalries that have helped shape his career to this point:
Wanderlei Silva
In what was perhaps the greatest single performance of his career, Belfort locked horns with the rising Brazilian star and future Pride Fighting Championships middleweight titleholder at UFC 17.5 on Oct. 16, 1998 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It did not unfold as Silva had hoped at Portuguesa Gymnasium. Belfort smashed “The Axe Murderer” with a left cross during one of their first exchanges, chased him across the cage and pinned him to the fence with punches. Silva’s head resembled a speed bag, as “The Phenom” brought it to a dramatic and decisive close just 44 seconds into Round 1. Superstardom seemed inevitable, but Belfort took his talents to Pride six months later and dropped a unanimous decision to Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba, a maddening propensity for inconsistency beginning to take shape.
Randy Couture
Belfort made it to the mountaintop on Jan. 31, 2004, albeit in anticlimactic fashion. “The Phenom” challenged Couture for the light heavyweight title in the UFC 46 headliner at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, where he sought to avenge his technical knockout loss to “The Natural” six years prior. Complicating matters for Belfort was the fact that his sister had disappeared 22 days earlier, leaving his family in a state of despair and ruin. He found refuge inside the cage. Less than a minute into their rematch, Belfort uncorked a grazing punch that sliced open Couture’s eyelid and left the three-time NCAA All-American wrestler with a corneal abrasion. It prompted an immediate stoppage 49 seconds into the first round and made Belfort the fourth light heavyweight champion in UFC history. They completed their trilogy the following August, as Couture prompted a third-round doctor stoppage against his rival at UFC 49.
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Alistair Overeem
When Belfort entered his clash with “The Demolition Man” in the opening round of the middleweight grand prix at, he had never before been submitted. That changed on April 23, 2005, when Overeem dropped a guillotine on the Carlson Gracie-trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt in front of 45,423 fans at the Osaka Dome in Osaka, Japan. He greeted Belfort with some high-octane knees, executed a takedown from the clinch and battered him with hammerfists and punches before exiting an armbar with a soccer kick. Overeem later yielded a takedown to the Brazilian, and while he drew a yellow card for passivity, he avoided meaningful damage on the ground. They were restarted on the feet after another Overeem takedown in the waning moments. The Dutch kickboxer then lit up Belfort with a driving knee and uppercut, forcing him to retreat to the canvas. Soon after, he locked up a guillotine as “The Phenom” attempted to scramble to a more advantageous position, wrapped him in guard and forced the tapout 9:36 into Round 1 of their Pride Total Elimination 2005 pairing. Overeem went on to defeat Belfort by unanimous decision in their June 2006 rematch under the Strikeforce banner.
Anderson Silva
It felt as if the MMA world’s collective jaw hit the floor all at once when “The Spider” retained his middleweight crown in spectacular fashion and knocked out Belfort with a front kick to the face in the UFC 126 main event on Feb. 5, 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Two punches on the crumpled Belfort polished off “The Phenom” 3:25 into Round 1. A lengthy feeling-out process between the two middleweights ended with a pair of leg kicks and a right-left combination from Belfort. It was but a small victory for the former light heavyweight king. With the two men standing face to face, Silva fired the front kick up through his defenses and dropped him where he stood. Belfort looked like he had been cut down by a sniper. Silva delivered a right and a left as he passed his compromised counterpart’s guard and drew the curtain in cold-blooded fashion.
Dan Henderson
Belfort dispatched the former two-division Pride Fighting Championships titleholder with a left head kick and follow-up punches in the UFC Fight Night 77 headliner on Nov. 7, 2015 at Geraldo Jose de Almeida State Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Referee Mario Yamasaki swooped in to save Henderson from further damage 2:07 into Round 1. The two legends circled one another for roughly 90 seconds, with Henderson landing a few inside leg kicks and Belfort biding his time. “The Phenom” picked his spot perfectly, sent a scorching kick crashing into Henderson’s face, swarmed with punches and drove his dazed rival to the mat. More punches followed, and Yamasaki intervened. So ended their memorable, action-packed trilogy. Henderson had taken a unanimous decision from the Brazilian in their initial encounter at Pride 32 in 2006, then ceded ground to Belfort when he bowed to a first-round head kick just 77 seconds into their November 2013 rematch at UFC Fight Night 32.