Vítor Vieira Belfort (born 1 April 1977) is a Brazilian professional boxer and retired mixed martial artist who competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he fought in the Heavyweight, Light Heavyweight and Middleweight divisions.
He is the UFC 12 Heavyweight Tournament Champion, as well as the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and Cage Rage World Light Heavyweight Champion.
Known for his explosive knockout power, Belfort is tied for fifth for the most finishes in UFC history with 14.
Belfort also competed for MMA promotions Pride FC, Strikeforce, Affliction, and Cage Rage.
Born and raised in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Belfort began training in boxing at the age of 12 under Claudio Coelho.
Belfort later studied Brazilian jiu-jitsu with Carlson Gracie, who gave him his black belt.
Gracie scouted Belfort at the Brazilian National Jiu-Jitsu Championships, where he won the Absolute and Heavyweight titles for blue belts under age 18.
Belfort, 17 at the time, was invited to compete at Gracie's gym, where he trained with the likes of Murilo Bustamante, Ricardo Loborio, Ricardo De La Riva, Mario Sperry, and Wallid Ismail.
At the age of 19, Belfort came to the United States to compete.
In his first sanctioned mixed martial arts match, an event called Superbrawl in Hawaii, his opponent was Jon Hess, whom the young Brazilian defeated in 12 seconds by knockout, despite Hess having a seven-inch height advantage and a more than 100-pound weight advantage over Belfort.
Soon after, he moved on to compete in the UFC, where he was given the nickname The Phenom.
He beat two fighters in his debut event in the UFC, winning the UFC 12 Heavyweight Tournament.
At age 19, Belfort became the youngest fighter to score a victory inside the octagon.
Belfort's next match saw him score a technical knockout (TKO) against the UFC 6 runner-up Tank Abbott in a non-tournament fight, knocking Abbott down and finishing him with a ground and pound attack.
1997
In 1997 Belfort fought against American Greco-Roman wrestler Randy Couture, the first of three fights they would have.
Belfort was upset by TKO 8:16 into the match, his boxing skills negated by Couture's clinch fighting.
After this defeat, he would fight twice more in the UFC.
The first of these fights was against a training partner of his, Joe Charles, whom he defeated quickly via armbar without throwing a single punch.
A year later, Belfort faced rising Brazilian star and future PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva.
Catching Silva early with a left cross, Belfort chased him across the cage with a flurry of punches, knocking Silva out by TKO in just 44 seconds.
Vítor then moved on to fight in Japan's PRIDE Fighting Championships.
1999
His first opponent was Kazushi Sakuraba in 1999.
Vítor controlled the first minutes of the fight before Sakuraba scored a takedown.
He spent the remainder of the fight on his back being stomped and kicked by Sakuraba.
Following the fight he stopped training with Carlson Gracie and started to train with Brazilian Top Team.
He fought in PRIDE against Alistair Overeem, Gilbert Yvel, Daijiro Matsui, Bobby Southworth, and Heath Herring.
For these matches Belfort used his stand-up striking skills less and instead controlled the fights and won by ground-and-pound tactics, with the exception of his fight with Southworth, which he won via rear-naked choke in the first round.
2004
His next fight was on 31 January 2004, a rematch with Randy Couture for the UFC Light heavyweight Championship.
Despite agonizing over his sister Priscila Belfort, who disappeared on 9 January, Vitor won the fight in 49 seconds after a seam from his glove cut Couture's eye, leaving Couture with a corneal abrasion that prompted a referee stoppage.
A third match between the two took place on 21 August 2004.
Couture won via doctor stoppage after the third round, recapturing the title.
2005
However, in the opening round of the 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix he faced Alistair Overeem, losing via first-round guillotine choke.
Returning to the UFC, Belfort was scheduled to fight Tito Ortiz in the main event of UFC's first Las Vegas show at UFC 33.
However, he sustained an injury prior to the event, and the bout was cancelled.
Belfort eventually returned and fought Chuck Liddell (losing via decision), then Marvin Eastman (winning via TKO and opening a severe cut on Eastman's eyebrow with a knee strike).
His next fight in the UFC was against Tito Ortiz on 5 February 2005.
The fight was Ortiz's last fight on his contract.
Belfort had early success in the first round, landing his best punches when the fight was on the feet, although he was taken down late in the round and took some of Ortiz's best elbows.
Belfort again had a strong start in the second but was taken down a second time and took damage from elbows late in the round.
Both fighters were exhausted by round 3; Belfort was too tired to land a single punch and was taken down and dominated, with Ortiz again landing damaging elbows.
