Former UFC light heavyweight champion and middleweight title challenger Vitor Belfort isn’t done just yet. Despite flirting with retirement over the past year after suffering a rough patch that left him winless in three straight fights, “The Phenom” returned to the win column with a unanimous decision victory over Nate “The Great’ Marquardt at UFC 212 in June. Now, Belfort has announced via Instagram that he will face Uriah Hall in January 2018 at an event yet to be announced.
Interestingly, the date provided is January 14, a Sunday.
Prior to the Marquardt victory, Belfort (26–13 (1)) had been finished by Jacare Souza, Gegard Mousasi, and most recently, Kelvin Gastelum in three consecutive fights. The most recent of that trio, Gastelum, saw the win overturned to a No Contest due to a failed positive test for marijuana metabolites. The Brazilian, who won the UFC 12 tournament in 1997, had not lost three straight fights since 2004-2005.
Belfort will look to continue the road back to relevance against Uriah Hall, who recently snapped a three fight losing streak of his own. Last month, Hall (13–8) stopped Krzysztof Jotko in the second round of their bout at UFC Fight Night 116. That put a halt to a losing streak that saw Hall drop fights to Robert Whittaker, Derek Brunson, and Gegard Mousasi.
In his post, Belfort stated it was “an honor to share the cage with such a young and talented fighter” and thanked him for accepting the fight. Belfort turned 40 in April, while Hall is a comparatively young 33.
