Coming off of his loss to Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort will step in to face Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133. It will be a tough scrap for both men, and one that Akiyama cannot afford to lose. He has two consecutive losses, and a third could be devastating for his career.
August 6th, 2011 UFC 133 will take place live from an unnamed venue in Philadelphia, PA. There are some fights signed but the most exciting fight was announced today and it features two very popular and talented Middleweights, Vitor Belfort and Yoshihiro Akiyama.
Akiyama has lost two consecutive losses to Chris Leben and Michael Bisping, although both fights won the fight of the night award. In fact, Akiyama has won the UFC Fight of the Night Award in each of his three fights inside the Octagon. A loss here would be devastating to his career.
Vitor Belfort had won five fights in a row prior to being “posterized” by an Anderson Silva front kick to the face. That kick ended the fight, and Vitor’s bid to become UFC Middleweight Champion. If he wants to start down that path towards another title shot, he needs a win here over Akiyama.
This fight will certainly be a back and forth clash, and it doesn’t seem possible that this won’t be another Fight of the Night contender. Other fights announced for the event are as follows.
Jorge Rivera vs. Alessio Sakara
Michael McDonald and Nick Pace
Brian Ebersole vs. Dennis Hallman
Riki Fukuda vs. Rafael “Sapo” Natal
