"I respect Vitor, and I think he's thinking I'm gonna be an easy fight for him, but I'm not gonna be an easy fight. A healthy Mark Munoz going out there with the right mentality, you don't want inside the Octagon. If they offer me the fight, I'll take it."
When Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight titleholder Chris Weidman was injured and forced to withdraw from his Vitor Belfort title fight, "The Phenom" was hoping the promotion would keep him on the card for a 185-pound interim championship bout. Not against a dangerous striker like Lyoto Machida, despite "The Dragon's" willingness to swoop in on short notice, but rather against down-on-his-luck wrestler Mark Munoz. As luck would have it, "The Filipino Wrecking Machine" was also scheduled for the Feb. 28 card against Roan Carneiro, but UFC matchmakers were not overly impressed with Belfort's matchmaking skills, and instead opted to seek alternate options for the UFC 184 pay-per-view (PPV) event. Perhaps they too, though Munoz would be an "easy" fight for the Brazilian?