When you’ve been a figurehead and a hugely respected name within a sport for almost two decades, especially a sport as young as MMA, simply stepping through the door of a gym can electrify the place – and everyone inside it. It’s a feeling UFC stalwart and former light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort has grown accustomed to, almost to the point of not noticing it anymore. 

As he walks through the impressive Jaco Hybrid Training Center in Florida, home to the Blackzilians fight team in Boca Raton, you get the feeling there’s no other job in the world ‘The Phenom’ would rather have. Ever the student, Belfort literally thrives off managing the training information he’s acquired throughout his career, and has become what many consider to be the prototype for a modern-day mixed martial artist.

Jiu-jitsu prodigy

As a 19-year-old Carlson Gracie jiu-jitsu prodigy, Belfort stepped into the cage for the first time against Jon Hess at Super Brawl 2 in Hawaii back in October 1996. Although he finished the fight in what would become something of a trademark throughout the rest of his MMA career – via quick and devastating knockout – his preparation for the bout was vastly different compared to what the former Pride FC favorite does today.

“When I started in the sport, the sport didn’t actually even exist,” he says, following a lung-busting S&C session in Florida. “It was just fighting and martial arts. It was more about martial art vs martial art, and which one was more effective. You have to remember that when I started I had to get better in all areas. I knew myself that I had to apply the boxing into the grappling, but I wish I could’ve applied the kicks, the knees and the elbows. It just took me a while to understand the skills I needed.

“The sport now is in a phase where you’ve got a lot of these athletes coming in, but it takes time to get to grips with everything. That’s how things get better.”

As impressive as Belfort was, considering his young age and anonymity within the sport, his rapid hand speed and strong jiu-jitsu background spell-binding those unfortunate enough to step inside the cage with him, the older and wiser Belfort insists he has so many more tools within his arsenal. 

Middleweight cut

However, before he could broaden his MMA horizons and expand his skillset, he needed to get down to a weight class that suited his body shape. Starting off in the sport as a heavyweight, Belfort would move down to the then-199lb middleweight division by his seventh career bout in 1998 – capping it with his legendary destruction of Wanderlei Silva, just 44 seconds into the opening round on home soil at UFC Brazil.

Yet he didn’t have the viral information at hand the way fighters are blessed with nowadays, and making his first cut to 199lb was much more difficult than it should’ve been. He recalls: “I don’t believe easy things are good. I think commitment to myself and this job are the things that really made me want to do it (move to 199lb). It was a good challenge. I’d won the UFC heavyweight tournament, I then won the light heavyweight title, and now I’m in another weight division – which is fun for me. It’s hard to keep the weight down, but it’s definitely worth it.”

Now competing in his lightest weight division since he first began fighting (185lb), it’s no surprise it’s difficult for Belfort to get down to middleweight. It’s a problem many older fighters face in the latter stages of careers. 

Regardless of the difficulties, his attitude to cutting weight has stayed the same throughout his career. He explains: “This is my job so making weight is something I have to do. I make sure I do things honorably. I walk around at around 215lb and, two weeks out from my fight with Michael Bisping (January 2013, Vitor winning by TKO in round two), I was walking around at 202lb. My plan for camp is to cut less weight during fight week.

“I really like to eat clean, even when I’m eating something that’s a cheat food, I try to eat healthy. That is the key to this thing, eating healthy. If you stick with healthy food then you’ll be OK. After so many years of fighting and training, I’ve honestly never felt so good.”

Whilst most fighters face the risk of losing certain physical qualities when they drop down a weight class – such as speed, power or endurance – Belfort has managed to hold onto the same key physical gifts that helped him in the beginning of his career: knockout power in both hands and explosive speed. When asked how he’s managed to keep what so many others have lost when dropping divisions he explains his secret is relatively simple.

God-given talent

“I think everyone has natural talent and gifts that God gives. God has given me some gifts and talent and I recognize that it doesn’t belong to me, it belongs to him,” he says. “I try to use it, be grateful, manage it the right way and apply things.” But he also adds: “We do many things in terms of drills, and I absolutely love the Versa Climber. It certainly helps a lot in terms of endurance and speed.”

Other fighters of a similar generation have found themselves stagnating after sticking with the old adage, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’ when it comes to training techniques. Leaving them lagging behind and left wanting by the newer, more well-versed generation. Unlike his peers, however, Belfort is someone who has embraced the new technological era, using it as a way to improve on his stellar physical talents.

He says: “Technology is a part of everyone’s life, and that’s a philosophy I apply every day in every area of life. I use it to make me a better fighter and I love dealing with it. I use a lot of things in my training to better myself, like the recovery suit, the hyperbolic chamber and so on.

“I like to know what I’m doing. I’ve got to learn more so I can teach others in the future. The key to this game is knowing what you’re doing, knowing where you’re improving and where you can improve.”

One area of improvement Belfort has been focusing on recently is his cardio, an area of his game that has been scrutinized by some corners of the MMA media. He believes with the quality of his current S&C coaches, plus his new and improved cardio workout that has him utilizing such things as the Versa Climber, battle ropes, a heart rate monitor and an iPad, those same critics will soon be silenced.

“It’s a very hard, intensive cardio workout that we do,” he says. “It’s a pretty intense workout if I’m honest. It’s difficult to explain what I’m actually doing during the workouts because my trainers change them up every week to shock my body. People think that if they do something the same every time it’s healthy, but you should know when to change things up for your body. 

“I have my trainers, and I just follow exactly what they tell me to do and whatever the routine is they want me to take part in. I’m a good soldier.”

However, the one aspect of cardio Belfort isn’t a fan of is running. In fact, he hates it. So much so that, unlike most athletes and fighters, he doesn’t incorporate it into his training regime at all. “I don’t like to sprint,” he reveals. “I don’t believe that sprinting is something that’s good for you. 

“Fighters don’t need to run; it’s just going to mess up your joints. All you need to do is work hard and use things like the Versa Climber.” He then jokes: “I believe the person who created running was a physiotherapist who had a lot of clients (laughs).”

Even though he’s become a huge and influential figure within the Blackzilians fight team, with plenty of the younger members not only asking the Brazilian for advice with their own burgeoning careers but watching him partake in his new cardio training routine to see if they can add something more to their own fitness, Belfort is still considered to be quite the nomad within the mixed martial arts world. 

From the mats of Carlson Gracie’s gym in Brazil to the ranks at Brazilian Top Team, the bright lights of Las Vegas’ Xtreme Couture, and now the Blackzilians, Belfort has traveled two continents in an attempt to sharpen his skills and learn from the best teachers in a variety of different disciplines. And with his thirst for knowledge and determination to improve unwavering, his most recent stop off in Boca Raton has already yielded impressive results.

“Nobody knows everything so they cannot learn, and nobody knows nothing so they cannot teach,” he states categorically. “I love to learn and I’ll be a student forever. Every time I have the possibility to learn, I do it.”

K-1 training

During his time in Florida, two other coaches at the gym (not featured here) have helped Belfort improve his skills, legendary K-1 instructor Henri Hooft and BJJ stalwart Gilbert ‘Durinho’ Burns. Belfort says: “I love learning kickboxing, I’m still in the process of learning more but I’m training with the best K-1 coaches around. Henri Hooft has really helped me, and I’ve trained with Ray Sefo as well, who is a great coach and a great friend. 

“I’m lucky to have guys like them work with me. I still work with Ray when I can, but Henri Hooft is at the Blackzilians full-time and has put in a lot of time with me, and he’s trained the best K-1 legends. Guys like Ernesto Hoost, Remy Bojansky, Tyrone Spong, Peter Aerts and so on. He’s not just a good trainer, he’s actually had more than 100 fights in his career. He knows what he’s talking about. It’s a new world for me, you know? I’m learning how to walk again. It’s an amazing feeling.

“Gilbert Burns has helped me a lot too. My background is in jiu-jitsu and I’ve got one of the best jiu-jitsu guys helping me train. He’s not only a good trainer, but a good fighter. He’s been doing a fantastic job with me and has really tightened up my game. It’s a new era of jiu-jitsu and these young guys are putting a lot of work into the ground game.”

With striking skills at a level that most middleweights would sell their own mothers for, plus a jiu-jitsu black belt from one of the greatest practitioners the world has ever known, Belfort has most areas of his skillset covered. But he admits he’s been working tirelessly on fixing one of the very few weaknesses he has in his game: his wrestling.

“It’s great learning wrestling because it’s a great sport too. It’s all about driving through with your body,” he states. “The standard here is very good. We’ve got Rashad Evans who is one of the best wrestlers in the game. The key is to add every weapon you can have into your arsenal; after all, you’re preparing for war so you’ve got to have all types of different guns.

“Honestly, I feel like a white belt sometimes, learning and watching the sport. These new guys coming up are teaching us older guys lessons, how to stand and how to put everything together. But I’m a learning machine and that’s the key to life. When you think you can’t learn anymore, it’s time to stop and retire. I’m trying to keep up with these young guys.”

Make no mistake, the 'phenom' is far from finished.

Postscript

Vitor Belfort announced his retirement in 2018, walking away from the octagon with a 28-14 MMA record in a staggering 22-year career where he took on anyone's who's anyone in the middle and light heavyweight divisions.

He famously avenged his loss to Dan Henderson back in 2006 by defeating him not once but twice via first-round TKOs in 2013 and 2015. With 14 finishes Belfort is tied second with Anderson Silva behind Donald Cerrone in the all-time list.