Vitor Belfort fought for the UFC middleweight title just last year, co-headlined UFC 198 against Jacare Souza this year, and tonight he’ll be co-headlining UFC 204 vs. Gegard Mousasi. Even with the loss to Jacare in May, the 39-year-old Belfort is still #5 in the UFC’s middleweight rankings. However, just a few days shy of the 20 year anniversary of his very first pro bout, it looks as if “The Phenom” will call it a career. Brazilian journalist Breno Massena tweeted the news just before the UFC 204 preliminary card kicked off.
The translation reads, “According to sources, Vitor Belfort retires today after his fight at UFC 204.”
Belfort is almost a 3-to-1 underdog on most betting syndicates, as he prepares for his showdown with Mousasi. In addition to Vitor’s reported retirement, Dan Henderson says he plans to retire after tonight’s main event vs. Michael Bisping. So by the end of tonight, we could be seeing 50% of the main and co-main event participants hang up the gloves.
We’ll see what happens when Belfort is interviewed after the Mousasi fight (if at all), or in the post-fight media scrums.