Vitor Belfort vs. Lyoto Machida In the Works for UFC 224 in Brazil
A pair of former UFC champions are expected to clash at UFC 224 in Brazil on May 12.
Vitor Belfort and Lyoto Machida have verbally agreed to meet in a matchup at middleweight pitting two of Brazil’s most popular fighters against each other as part of the upcoming pay-per-view in Rio de Janeiro.
Sources close to the matchup confirmed the news on Saturday following an initial report from MMAFighting.
Belfort was originally scheduled to compete in January in what he said would be the final fight of his career but his opponent Uriah Hall was forced out of the contest at the last minute due to a weight cutting mishap. Now Belfort will get to fight at home instead as he books his next fight for Brazil.
As for Machida, he’s coming of a hard fought win over top prospect Eryk Anders, which got him back on track following three losses in a row.
While the fight has not be signed yet, both Machida and Belfort have verbally agreed to the matchup with hopes that bout agreements will be issued soon.
UFC 224 still hasn’t booked a main event but there have been talks about women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes facing Raquel Pennington in the headline fight on the card.
