A roadblock to Chris Weidman’s shot at middleweight champion Anderson Silva has been removed. Alan Belcher, who has also lobbied for a match with the Spider, has verbally agreed to fight Vitor Belfort on the main card of UFC 153 on October 13, according to various reports.
"The Talent" recorded a spectacular TKO victory over Rousimar Palhares in May for his second consecutive first-rond stoppage since a 16-month inactive period due to a detached retina. "The Phenom" is 7-1 over his last eight bouts, that lone loss coming on Silva’s front-snap kick that kayoed him in February 2011. Belfort had asked for a fight with Weidman and also wants a rematch with Silva.
Belcher-Belfort will go a long way to figuring out the middleweight title picture, but with Michael Bisping and Brian Stann meeting at UFC 152 in September, and Hector Lombard off an unimpressive loss to Tim Boetsch last Saturday at UFC 149, the probability of a Silva-Weidman title fight is increasing.
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