Midnight Mania! Vitor Belfort wants Chuck Liddell for ‘Legends League’ bout

Welcome to Midnight Mania! Tonight we’ve got Vitor Belfort telling his secret wishes and desires, Max Holloway’s apparel on the upswing, Yoel Romero considering himself the right hand of God, knockouts, podcasts, and much more

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League of Legends: The Ice Man Returns?

Vitor Belfort, who has backpeddled on his retirement talk of late, has previously floated the idea of a “Legends League” where he and other aging stars can keep fighting each other into their twilight years. It’s an idea that has held some cache, especially over in rival promotion Bellator, who have seen fit to make such matchups as Ken Shamrock-Royce Gracie and Tito Ortiz-Chael Sonnen, among others. Belfort wanted the concept to include such provisos as a timer on ground fighting and banning certain strikes. Those seem unlikely to be adopted in the near future.

However, his idea of fighting Chuck Liddell may just have some merit, at least on paper. Liddell refuses to rule out the idea of a return, and has as much as said that given enough money, he would re-enter the Octagon. Fans, of course, would remember Liddell, and doubtless the fight would create some nostalgic interest. For Belfort, it is a chance to right what he sees as an old wrong on the part of the judges in their first contest, at UFC 37.5.

Transcript via Ryan Harkness on Uproxx:

“Liddell is very interesting, not just for me but for the fans,” Belfort told MMA Fighting. “I think about the legend league, I think the UFC should do it and I think that would be a good start. Chuck is a legend, we fought in the past. I think I won that fight but they gave it to him. Back in the days he was managed by the owners of the UFC and Dana. Today is totally different.”

“I see it as one of the options, the many options the UFC has to pursue it. We have so many legends in the UFC and so many things could happen in the future.”

Is this the fight to lure the Ice Man out of retirement? The moral merits of bringing him back at age 47 are questionable, but the proven financial success of showcasing stars well past their prime is a factor too, bringing in a demographic of fans that have long abandoned regular viewing of Mixed Martial Arts. The last thing remaining to aging athletes is their name. If Chuck Liddell decides he wants to cash in on his personal brand one more time, as Vitor desires, it wouldn’t surprise me to see this fight happen in 2017.

Belfort faces another long-time veteran, Nate Marquardt, on the main card of UFC 212 this Saturday.

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Insomnia

Holloway and Aldo square off. No one flinching here

Holloway’s style has come a long way, and sparked some conversation among the media. Apparently, he has a “dope-ass suit guy” with something special still in the works for UFC 212.

Yoel Romero calls himself the right hand of God and I find that uniquely awesome.

The great thing about Jon Jones’ trash talk is that he’s just being brutally honest. He loses on Twitter about as often as he loses in the Octagon.

Jones has a point with his reply:

A new heavyweight signing with the UFC

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Slips, Rips, and KO Clips

Max Holloway is a berserker.

Melvin Guillard continues his fractal descent into oblivion by getting knocked out in more and more obscure promotions

Shlemenko getting the body kick knockout

Another angle

Reminder that Russians do combat sports differently

Speaking of Russian MMA...

Watch out for Vitaly Minakov this Friday. This is a pro-wrestling-esque throw

Oh, and Nikita Krylov is fighting too

Old school

Awesome throw

Out cold

One of the only times you will ever see this work in a full contact situation

Possibly the craziest slugfest in UFC history while it lasted

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Good Reads

• Dana White doesn’t understand Demetrious Johnson’s refusal to fight TJ Dillashaw, and says he makes the fights, not DJ. I’ve got to say, for once I’m on Dana’s side. I’ll back DJ’s claim to better pay all day long, but he’s got no reason to turn down Dillashaw, especially when the other alternative is Ray Borg.
• Phil Mackenzie breaks down Max Holloway in six fights.
• Watch out for this undefeated Brazilian knockout machine
• Conor McGregor’s coach, John Kavanagh, is picking Max Holloway to beat Jose Aldo
• MMA Mania’s own resident analyst and fighter, Andrew Richardson, breaks down Jose Aldo’s game

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Podcasts and Video

Fight Nerds with Flyin Brian J

Heavy Hands

The Promotional Malpractice Live Chat

UFC 212 Embedded, Episode 4

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Stay woke, Maniacs!

Follow me on Twitter @Vorpality