Matt Lindland wants a shot at Vitor Belfort
July 24, 2008 by Sam Caplan
Fresh off his unanimous decision victory over Fabio Negao at Affliction: Banned, former Olympic silver medalist Matt Lindland already has designs on his next opponent.
“I would love to fight (Vitor) Belfort,” Lindland is quoted as saying by Gary Herman of CBSSports.com. “He’s a legend in the sport. I respect him a lot. To get in the ring with a guy like him would be great.”
Belfort, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, won his first bout at middleweight during the undercard portion of “Banned” this past Saturday. Fighting against Terry Martin in a bout televised on Fox Sports Net, the native Brazilian knocked out Martin at 3:12 of round 2.
It was not only Belfort’s first bout at 185 pounds, it was also his first bout in the U.S. since being suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. The positive test came after his loss to Dan Henderson at PRIDE 32 in October of 2006.
If a bout with Belfort doesn’t come to fruition, Lindland has alternative ideas about his next opponent.
“I’d like to avenge the losses against Murilo Bustamante and David Terrell,” Lindland said.
Bustamante handed Lindland his first career loss in 2002 at UFC 37 and Terrell knocked Lindland out in the first round at UFC 49 in 2004.
my money is on belfort
I hate fighter bashing but watching Lindland fight just does nothing for me…
Matt “Watching Paint Dry” Lindland is calling people out?
Stick to politics.
Gotta hope for a Belfort KO in this one. Lindland’s a good fighter, but I think he gave up trying to make his fights the least bit entertaining for the crowd a long time ago.
Lindland-pictures always deliver.
If Belfort looked like he did..I’d pick him for the win
i hope lindland gets knocked out…never liked the way he fought.
the only good thing he has going is his sportfight that got picked up by hdnet
Lindland is never going to a fight with Busta or David Terrell, so he can forget about that. A fight with Vitor would be good. I would give Lindland the edge, but if Vitor stays with Xtreme Couture (and listens to them), he could win this one.
Then its a unanimous decision… No one wants to see Lindland lay on top of Vitor for 3 rounds.
I’d prefer it if I never see Lindland fight again.
OMG isnt this the same lindland that everyone thought could beat a. silva not too long ago. wow how things change
This particular matchup is not one that I would like to see, not that I don’t think both fighters are great. I just think that stylistically this fight would be extremely boring. I love to watch Vitor fight when he is doing well, but when a good wrestler gets him on his back, he’s pretty much going to stay there and do nothing. He’ll just get lightly GnPed for 3 boring rounds, and won’t be able to submit Lindland. If he can manage to rock Lindland before he gets a takedown, then it could get interesting. I see Lindland winning a boring 3 round decision snooze-fest. Again, I’m not trying to pick on either of these guys, that’s just the way I see it going. Bad matchup for Vitor.
Not everyone Danny because I sure as hell never thought that.
Lindland is boring to watch, but it would be a good test to see where Belfort stands in the MW division, I wonder if Lindlands political ambitions are going to get in the way of this happening any time soon? I’d take Belfort by KO.
I hope Belfort keeps working hard to improve his game and catch up this guy.