Hello once more fans and friends, and welcome to the start of another new series. I recently posted a double-article detailing five reasons why Anderson Silva could beat Georges St. Pierre, then a reverse article of five reasons why Georges St. Pierre could beat Anderson Silva. I liked the idea of the article so much that I’ll be turning it into a new series, simply called “5 Reasons Why”. And while I will cover some other fantasy match-ups now and again, the main focus of this series will be dissecting a big, upcoming MMA main event and how its two competitors could conceivably beat each other. And what better way to start it than with one of my favorite fighters facing one of his toughest challenges ever? This is “5 Reasons Why Anderson Silva Could Beat Vitor Belfort”, with the reverse soon to follow. ...

A three-time title challenger for the UFC heavyweight crown, Pedro Rizzo has seen and done it all in the sport. While "The Rock" has seen better days throughout his 14-plus years as a professional mixed martial artist, having fought against some of the best fighters in the world including Josh Barnett, Jeff Monson, and Andrei Arlovski amongst others--all of whom Rizzo holds victories over--he is still the type of guy to become genuinely excited when a new fight is on the horizon. And in this case, Rizzo is all too familiar with both men, as fellow countryman Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort clash in February in a fight that Pedro not only has invested interest in, but a desire to watch an explosively exhilarating bout. ...

A lot of fans and fighters are once again talking about Wanderlei Silva after a drop down to Middleweight seems to have revitalized the career of “The Axe Murderer”. Several fighters have called out Wanderlei in the past: no less than Alan Belcher, Nate Marquardt, and Chris Leben have all made it known that they’ve got Wanderlei in their sights. For his part, Wanderlei has called out Chael Sonnen, and most recently, he’s set another high-level Middleweight in his sights. Both for revenge and for championship relevancy, Silva recently stated that he’s ready and willing to fight the current top contender to the UFC Middleweight Championship, the resurrected “Phenom”, Vitor Belfort. ...

Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort have a history. Current UFC middleweight champion Silva is all too familiar with his Brazilian countryman. The two were training partners as part of Team Blackhouse for sometime, before Vitor decided the best fit for his mixed martial arts career would be with Xtreme Couture and Team Tompkins in Las Vegas. While there have been some barbs exchanged in the past between the two Brazilians, mainly on part of Silva, when he was proposed about the possibility of a match up with Vitor suggested that the former light heavyweight champion should go through the gauntlet of contenders in the UFC's 185-pound division before being granted a title shot opposite of Silva. ...

Welcome back to “All I Want for Christmas”, fans and friends, my special four-part Christmas Day mini-series that celebrates a day of well-wishing and familial bonding. I’ve got high hopes for MMA in 2011, and hopefully these various Top 5 lists have filled you with a sense of wonder as well. Take it as my little effort to spread some holiday cheer, to get some spirits up and inject a little positivity into a medium that so often only focuses on the negative. With that said, let’s head right into the final entry of today’s list, the Top 5 things I’m looking forward to for the UFC in 2011. ...

ufc officials have officially confirmed the fight's that everyone has been waiting for. On Feb. 6 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, the worlds largest mixed martial arts promotion will return to put on another stellar pay-per-view event. The night will culminate in a middleweight headliner pitting champion Anderson Silva as he looks to defend his title for a record eighth-time when he takes on former teammate and top contender, Vitor Belfort. ...

Throughout the entirety of Mixed Martial Arts, it has become generally accepted that the best fighters in the world either come from the United States or Brazil. There are a lot of exceptions to the rule, sure, but America and Brazil dominates in terms of star talent and MMA champions. So when the ufc announced its intentions to return to Brazil after a long, long absence, it rightfully set the MMA rumor mill spinning. And a recent report is sure to keep the mill churning for quite some time. ...

Who hasn’t Matt Lindland fought in the cage?  His career fight bio is a list of MMA 1.0 and 2.0 greats from Pat Miletich to Ricardo Almeida, to Fedor Emelianenko and Vitor Belfort.  Now 40, and seeking one more title belt run, he has his hands full with one of the biggest punchers in the game in Robbie Lawler in the Strikeforce cage come Saturday night in St. Louis. ...

Pound-for-Pound. It’s a term subject to debate, a broad range of definitions, and a firestorm of controversy every time it’s brought up. Some people swear by it, some swear it’s useless, but everyone has an opinion on it. Right now, the major debate seems to be whether UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva or UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre deserves the title of “Best Pound-for-Pound Fighter”. Never one to let a controversial subject go past without chiming in, the always-insightful and supremely-controversial UFC President Dana White recently made several interesting comments on where he stands regarding this matter. ...

For the first time in an unfortunately long while, the future looks bright for former PRIDE FC star Wanderlei Silva. Silva’s Middleweight debut and win against Michael Bisping broke a two-fight losing-streak and effectively breathed new life into “The Axe Murderer” as a performer. Now several Middleweight stars all want their crack at Silva: Chris Leben has already vocally called Silva out, but recently, both Vitor Belfort and Alan Belcher made it known that they’d enjoy taking on Wanderlei. Wanderlei even responded to one of their challenges recently. Here are all the details. ...

UFC middleweight Nate Marquardt may say he won’t be fighting with pressure on his shoulders against Yushin Okami at UFC 122, but some may find that hard to believe.  If he wins, he gets a title shot – a rare second title shot.  It’s that simple.  All that is left to do in his career is to take home the UFC middleweight strap, which clarifies just how much is on the line in Germany for Marquardt.  “Nate the Great” shared with Fighters.com that his focus for Okami – and a title shot, will be razor sharp, something that wasn’t the case when he lost to Chael Sonnen at UFC 109. ...

In the midst of an international expansion that is virtually unrivaled in all of Mixed Martial Arts, the ufc’s absence from one foreign country in particular remains perplexing. Consider the fact that a massive chunk of the best of the best that compete in the UFC are from Brazil, and then consider the fact that the UFC hasn’t ran an event in Brazil for over a decade. But fear not, the hiatus is now over. According to Graciemag International, 2011 will mark the UFC’s return to Brazil for the first time since 1998. ...

While there has been some dispute as to why Vitor Belfort has been granted a title shot with Anderson Silva, get over it, because it's happening nonetheless. There's some novelty in the fight. They were both friends. They've trained together before, and rumor has it that Belfort used to get the better of Silva during their training sessions. Though if there was an validity to those rumors, they have surely all been put to rest due to the dominance that Anderson, the UFC's middleweight champion has displayed inside the octagon. Belfort has competed in the middleweight division in two of his last three fights, however in his return to the octagon he came in at 195-pounds for a catch-weight contest opposite of former champion Rich Franklin. At UFC 103, Belfort was able to dispatch of Franklin inside of the first-round via knockout. Some may question the UFC's ethics in pitting Silva against Belfort, whom was out of commission for over a year due to injury, make no mistake that Vitor is ready to shock the world and defeat who he considers to be the best fighter on the planet. ...

Michael Bisping always seems to get himself a big win right when he needs it the most. He rebounded from a loss to Rashad Evans by dropping down to Middleweight and winning three straight fights. He rebounded from the first KO loss of his career by TKO’ing former PRIDE FC star Denis Kang. And he’s now rebounded from a tough loss to Wanderlei Silva with two tough wins over Dan Miller and Yoshihiro Akiyama. So what’s next for the brash British bad-boy? Here are my top 5 opponents for Michael Bisping. ...

A previously rumored event for January 29th, which was dubbed as ufc 126, has been pulled off the table. While the event, which was to be a pay-per-view card, was under consideration by the promotion, has now been dubbed null altogether. UFC 125, which is expected to be headlined by current lightweight champion Frankie Edgar defending his title in a rematch against fellow wrestler Gray Maynard, will be taking place on January 1 of the new year, and now what was originally considered to be UFC 127, will now become 126. ...

An exciting lightweight match up has been added to the seemingly stacked UFC 127 card, which will be taking place in February of next year, in Las Vegas, Nev. The headliner, a rumored bout pitting UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva against former teammate Vitor Belfort is tentatively scheduled for the event, as well as light heavyweight bouts pitting former champions Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin against one another, as well as Ryan Bader versus phenom, Jon "Bones" Jones. Said lightweight match up, which will be Kenny Florian against Evan Dunham, is a fight that no true mixed martial arts fan would want to pass up. ...

As the new year looms closer and closer, the Super Bowl weekend card looks to be a star studded affair. Previously mentioned, the main event of the evening is looking like it will be a battle between Brazilians when Vitor Belfort challenges former teammate Anderson Silva for the ufc middleweight title. Also on the card, a battle between light heavyweights Ryan Bader and Jon Jones will battle it out for top contenders status in a stacked 205-pound division. Seemingly a shoe in for co-main event honors, the bout was trumped when a recent news breaker was published, which will garner a lot of attention come fight time. ...

If having your 'friend' ask you to "pray to whatever Demon effigy you prance and dance in front of with your piglet tribe of savages that I decide not to CRUCIFY you" is what Ed Soares' idea of what a friend should be, than George Bush and Osama bin Laden are sharing a condo on the coast, drinking margaritas and laughing about 'stupid American bureaucracy', and plan to adopt an underprivileged child from North Korea. The Ed-Chael feud had been well documented in the lead up heading into ufc 117 where Chael faced Soares' client Anderson Silva just last August. After many outlandish claims directed towards Soares himself and Anderson Silva primarily, it was later discovered that after failing to capture the UFC middleweight title from "The Spider" after a dominant four-rounds turned in (before the Brazilian submitted Sonnen with a late-rally fifth-round arm bar), Sonnen was found to have been possibly under the influence of performance enhancing drugs. Despite the fall out, and all of the negative tension shared in the media, Ed sympathizes with Sonnen and even goes as far as to say that his 'friend' is innocent of said allegations. ...

Much like the rest of the MMA world, Silva was shocked by the recent allegations that former foe Chael Sonnen, whom Silva had battled against at UFC 117 in what turned out to be a comeback win for "The Spider" when he eventually submitted the part-time real estate agent in the fifth round in their title fight. In what will go down as one of the better fights in 2010, Sonnen put up an almost savage-like beat down on the reigning defending middleweight champion, however the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt battled back from adversity after being taken down and pummeled for four-and-a-half rounds, and submitted his rival with a triangle choke. Why the stoppage was marred in controversy for a short period of time, Sonnen's post-fight drug test will blemish his career for the rest of his life. Following the loss, a spirited one at that, the former Olympic wrestling hopeful, was found to have under the influence of performance enhancing substances due to highly elevated testosterone levels, according to the California State Athletic Commission. ...

It's one of the most eagerly-anticipated bouts for 2011...but just when in 2011 is still very much uncertain. It's Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort for the UFC Middleweight Championship, and it unfortunately may be shelved once again. For what feels like the hundredth time, an injury may keep these two greats from locking horns. Despite Vitor Belfort recently announcing via his Twitter account that he would be facing Silva on Super Bowl Weekend at UFC 127, Silva’s semi-famous manager Ed Soares recently told MMAWeekly that that may not be the case after all. ...

Well, it isn't the New Years show at UFC 125 as most expected, but it's a championship fight none-the-less. Vitor Belfort recently announced via his twitter account that he is expecting to face Anderson Silva for the middleweight title, on Super Bowl weekend, for UFC 127 on February 5. The event is expected to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, though no venue has been tapped yet for the event. ...

What a difference a few hours can make. In the early hours of yesterday morning I posted a report that Vitor Belfort had been injured and was forced to pull out of his upcoming championship contender elimination fight with veteran Yushin Okami. It was later revealed that Belfort was in fact perfectly healthy and had simply been promoted to top contender status and would immediately be given the next shot at Anderson Silva now that Chael Sonnen has tested positive for steroids and will likely be facing a lengthy suspension. In a new interview, “The Phenom” let us all know how he’s approaching this long-awaited dream match with Anderson Silva. ...

Chael Sonnen, the once gold boy for what was a stale middleweight division, has come under heavy fire recently. After what was a commanding and inspiring performance against Anderson Silva, the UFC middleweight champion, at UFC 117 last August, it appears that Sonnen didn't compete without the help of performance enhancing substances. ...

Another twist--turns out middleweight contender Vitor Belfort is not injured. In fact, he was pulled from his headlining duties against Yushin Okami and will now be taking on the champ, Anderson Silva in early 2011. The Okami-Belfort bout was to serve as ufc 122's headliner, the organizations second foray into Germany which is taking place on November 13 via-tape delay on Spike TV, however since Belfort had been pulled the bout, most speculated that the Brazilian was injured when former title challenger Nate Marquardt stepped up to the plate to face the Japanese star. ...

You read that right, fans and friends. First seen on MMAWeekly, Vitor Belfort has once again pulled out of an upcoming bout with an injury. This time his opponent was scheduled to be Yushin Okami, in a match that would have determined the next challenger to Anderson Silva’s UFC Middleweight Championship. Belfort has been plagued with injuries for the majority of his latest UFC tenure, and it now looks as if Nate Marquardt will step in on short notice and face Yushin Okami in the main event of UFC 122. ...

It’s a highly-anticipated dream match that MMA fans and insiders have been looking forward to for over a year…but two big obstacles may prevent it from happening. Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort should be an epic money-making fight when/if it ever finally happens, but in order to make the dream match a reality, Silva will have to get through Chael Sonnen once again while Belfort will have to beat the super-tough Yushin Okami. In an interview with RedeTV, “The Phenom” recently spoke on his future, the possible fight with Silva, and more. ...

In the pro boxing vs. MMA debate, one of the last rallying cries of the pro-boxing anti-MMA crowd is “well, MMA fighters are too scared to step into a boxing ring with pro boxers”. Now that James Toney has once again proven that one-dimensional athletes will never hold up to true Mixed Martial Artists in an MMA fight, no matter how skilled they are in that one dimension, many were left wondering what would happen if the opposite was put into effect and a great MMA fighter met a great boxer in a boxing ring. The closest we’ll likely ever get to that, since UFC President Dana White has come down strongly against letting his top fighters fight in a boxing ring, will be a boxing match pitting former UFC and Elite XC fighter Kimbo Slice, who recently transitioned from MMA to boxing after a lackluster MMA career, against James Toney. Still, that hasn’t stopped one fighter from stepping up to the plate and saying that he’ll answer the challenge, as Vitor Belfort of all people recently said that he would agree to face James Toney in a boxing ring. ...

Former UFC light heavyweight champion turned Middleweight contender, Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort returns to the cage this November. While speculation ran rapid, including who, when, and where Belfort would fight next, wait no longer--because the Brazilian has ended all speculation via his Twitter. ...

It seems that Vitor Belfort’s path to the ufc Middleweight Championship is taking yet another detour. The former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion was tentatively penned as the next challenger to Middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva all the way back in September 2009, when he made his return to the promotion by scoring a huge knockout over former Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin in a catchweight bout. Since then, injuries (both Belfort’s and Silva’s) have ping-ponged this fight back and forth from one event to another. Now it may not even happen. MMAJunkie.com recently reported that Vitor Belfort is moving forward with plans to return in November…but against Yushin Okami. Everything is still pure speculation at this point, since nothing has been officially announced, but here’s what’s known so far. ...

"The Axe Murderer", Wanderlei Silva will make his anticipated return to the cage towards the beginning of next year. The former Pride champion revealed his plans during a Q & A session during the Fan Expo in Boston, for UFC's first trip into the new market. ...