Vitor Belfort's Secret Skill: Shotokan Karate

"I trained karate in 2001... People have a lot of respect for boxing and wrestling, but I’ve always had the vision of bringing things that are not being used in the sport, like I did with boxing. After that, I contacted Lyoto. We trained together a couple of times in Rio de Janeiro, and I felt his timing was from karate, so I started to get interested in karate again. Of course, I made some adaptations, as I combined karate with my boxing game. I’m adding a couple of nice things from Shotokan to my game."

"It keeps you relaxed all the time. You never show what you are going to do; you always do what the opponent doesn’t expect. I should say that karate is the art of hit and not getting hit."

"Today, I’m pretty much focused on my karate training, but I’m also training my muay Thai and boxing with Shawn Tompkins, who is an amazing trainer. Today, I should say that karate is the basis of my stand-up fighting, together with boxing."

HT: Sherdog