One of the UFC’s greatest legends has a unique idea for a new sport that would revolutionize MMA and boxing.
Vitor Belfort ruthlessly knocked out Evander Holyfield in September 2021 after bringing his iconic 41-fight career in MMA to a close and transitioning to the square circle.
‘The Phenom’ hasn’t fought in the last 18 months and fans could be forgiven for assuming that the 47-year-old is done with fighting – but they’d be mistaken.
Belfort hopes to spearhead a new combat sport that will combine MMA and boxing rules to create the ultimate viewing experience for fans.
Vitor Belfort wants Tommy Fury to help him launch a new sport
Tommy Fury is the man he wants to face in the sport’s historic debut.
“If I can point to one fight that really interest me today, Tyson Fury’s brother,” Belfort told Inside Fighting.
“I would love to fight him with gloves where I’d be able to grab and get a hold of him.
“I always wanted to bring what’s next with a vision of combat sports.
“Boxing is a great thing, but if you can bring a sport where you can bring the best of both sports with one ruleset, I think people will have the fight of their lives.
“That is what I’m looking to present to the combat sport fans… The problem is a lot of people don’t want to risk what they have. People are very afraid of risking what they have rather than looking to the future and seeing it as an investment.
“The future of combat sport is bringing MMA and boxing under one ruleset together.”
Vitor Belfort has deep respect for Tommy Fury and his family
Fury has spoken about becoming a boxing world champion, but he’s spent his entire career to date competing on reality TV shows and facing off against influencer boxers.
The 25-year-old boasts a perfect 10-0 record and holds wins over KSI and Jake Paul but often faces unfair comparisons to his former heavyweight world champion brother.
Belfort is a big fan of ‘TNT’ and thinks he would make the perfect dance partner.
“The story of the Fury family, I really have so much respect for this family,” he explained.
“You know, coming from the father to Tyson and Tommy. Tommy is a great athlete, he defeated Jake Paul. Of course, he’s much younger than me but that [fight] would be an honour.
“For me, I’m at a stage of my life where I don’t want to compete against someone I don’t admire or I don’t see a level of how we can make something to bring to the masses and [multiple] generations.
“One year before he was coming to this Earth, I was a world champion.
“My dream is to put this sport together where we would be able to fight with rules that combine MMA [and boxing]. I’m not gonna elbow. I’m not gonna doing anything besides punching, but I would be able to grab him in the clinch, punch in the clinch and dirty box.
“It takes one person to say yes so we can become the biggest history fight for years from today. He would be a guy I would love to have the honor to step in the ring and do something like that with.”