Vitor Belfort made a triumphant return to the 185-pound division last weekend (Jan 19, 2013), knocking off Michael Bisping from the top off the contenders list at UFC on FX 7 in Sao Paolo, Brazil, delivering a nasty head kick to "The Count's" dome and forcing a referee stoppage after some ground-and-pound follow up.
The win marked his third in his last four fights since losing to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion Anderson Silva back in 2011, with one of those being a catchweight fight of 197-pounds against Anthony Johnson at UFC 142 due to "Rumble's" weight-cutting issues.
Belfort's lone loss came in the light heavyweight division to champion Jon Jones at UFC 152, after the Brazilian stepped up to challenge "Bones" when other fighters were to busy acting like "divas."
According to UFC President Dana White's comments at a recent media scrum, he won't be able to deny Belfort another shot at "The Spider's" strap should he "knock off" a couple more contenders in the division.
His words:
"He knocks off a couple more of those guys that are contenders, like, let's say we did Vitor vs. Hector Lombard or if he knocked off another guy, you know, it gets to the point where you have to give Vitor another shot."
White also called Belfort's call-out of Jon Jones -- while also labeling Chael Sonnen a clown who didn't deserve the light heavyweight title fight -- "weird" after having just lost to him.
While a fight against Lombard sounds tempting and would have fans foaming at the mouth, "Shango" is currently lined up to face Yushin Okami at UFC on Fuel TV 8 in Saitama, Japan.
Perhaps if the former Bellator champ proves victorious over "Thunder" in "The Land of the Rising Sun," a number one contender's fight between two of the most powerful punchers in the division would be in order.
Does a potential bangfest between Belfort and Lombard do anything for you? And would a rematch between "The Phenom" and "The Spider" produce different results than those of their initial encounter at UFC 126?