Greetings MMA posters, this is the 2nd in a series of threads I'll make on this forum, basically ripping off the excellent Classic Forum boxing poster Boxed Ears, who has a series in the Classic called 'Very Good Or Great', where he asks regulars whether they consider some fighters to merit the description 'great' fighters, or whether they are merely 'very good'. MMA Volume 1 was Sean Sherk, see thread: http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=335373 The choice this time is "The Phenom", Vitor Belfort. Some relevant info about Vitor: - Vitor won This content is protected , lost it in his first defence. He also won the UFC 12 heavyweight tournament in 1997 and the Cage Rage world lightheavyweight title in 2007. - Belfort has only ever lost to top fighters in his career, there have been no sloppy losses to much lesser fighters: This content is protected and This content is protected . Probably the most damaging losses were a sub and a decision to This content is protected . Vitor has been actually knocked out only once (Anderson Silva), he has been stopped by Randy Couture, and submitted by Overeem only. - The most important factor is of course resume, the guys Vitor has beaten. Make your assessment of this list: This content is protected - UFC, 1998 - This content is protected This content is protected - UFC, 2004 - This content is protected This content is protected - UFC, 2009 - This content is protected This content is protected - Pride, 2001 - This content is protected This content is protected - UFC, 2011 - This content is protected - Other factors to consider: Current record is This content is protected from 29 fights / This content is protected , 4 decisions and 2 submissions / This content is protected , 3 stoppages losses and 1 sub defeat. I look forward to your verdicts and explanations, and hope to continue this series shortly :bbb
Very good, can't hate on how long he has managed to be among the elite in his division but his resume is missing the great wins. I'd put him among guys like Ricardo Arona, borderline greats (although I'd probably rate Arona higher).
probably the hardest guy to rank in all of mma vitor is.. theres a thousand different arguments to how good or bad he is.
Good... He could have been great had the **** with his sister not happened! He has not been the same since. He could be better if he cut the Jesus **** out too. Lynchburg
I always wondered how good was Sakuraba win over Vitor at Pride 5. Vitor had lost a year and a half prior to that to Couture but for me the most amazing thing in that fight for me was how helpless Vitor was against Sakuraba. He got dominated from the begining to the end. Like some people mentioned earlier in that thread, he it's hard to say if he is good or great, but IMO he is at the minimum pretty good !
He was very good. He's a great finisher when he gets you hurt. Love the wanderlei silva KO and the freeman TKO with that nasty cut. He had the talent to be great but sometimes it just seem like his not focus enough on training and it shows when he comes to fight.
Vitor is a great talent, but has only been good as a fighter. Inconsistency, lack of focus, and ability to be broken all keep him just short of greatness. I do think he is closer than Sherk though, but only just.
