Issue 200

‘The Phenom’ Vitor Belfort has had one hell of a career, but here's a few of the injuries he's had to face during his time at the top of MMA.

THE PHENOM STATS

Name: Vitor Vieira Belfort

Weight: 185lb/84kg/13st 3lb

Height: Six foot

Reach: 74 inches (188 cm)

Stance: Southpaw

Career: 20 years

MMA Record: 26 wins (18 by KO), 14 losses

BMI: 25.1

1: CHRONIC SHOULDER INJURY

Before Anderson Silva fought Demian Maia at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi, he was set to face Belfort for the UFC middleweight title. However, Belfort had to be replaced due to a chronic shoulder injury which had been plaguing him since August 2009, keeping the Brazilian out of action for four months.

Belfort claimed his doctor, Michel Simoni, told him that if he didn’t stop fighting and have surgery immediately, he was running the risk of his left shoulder going out of place. Belfort didn't make his return to the UFC's Octagon until a year later.

2: BROKEN LEFT HAND

Following the first season of TUF Brazil, Belfort went straight to training camp for his fight with opposing coach and long-time rival Wanderlei Silva. However, just under a month before the June 23rd fight between the two rivals UFC president Dana White announced Belfort had broken his left hand and would have to undergo surgery to get it repaired.

Belfort made his return to the Octagon five months later on short notice against Jon Jones, but suffered another hand injury during training.

3: KNEE INJURIES

Scheduled to welcome former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le to the UFC, Belfort had to pull out due to a knee injury. Details on which knee was injured and how badly were not made available to the public; however, Belfort did state that it was a recurring injury, meaning it could possibly have been linked to a torn meniscus he suffered in 2006. More recently in 2018 Belfort suffered another knee injury while training for UFC 224 in his home town of Rio do Janeiro, Brazil.

STAT ATTACK

1: A lot is made of Belfort's ability 54% to punch his opponents, but little is said about his ability to dodge his opponents’ strikes, and according to FightMetric, Belfort is able to dodge 54% of whatever his opponents throw at him.

2: Belfort is one of the few fighters who have gone down through the weights to fight in three different divisions during their career, starting off at heavyweight, then going down to light heavyweight and now at middleweight.

3: Lean machine Vitor has black belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and in Judo, and a purple belt in karate.