Recovering Vitor Belfort eyes UFC 141 slot, fight with UFC 136's Sonnen-Stann winner

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The injury that forced Vitor Belfort out of a featured UFC 139 slot is simply a speed bump on his quest for a UFC title, and he's planning to return to the cage before year's end.

While a recent in-studio guest on MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio), Belfort said he's specifically targeting a return at the year-end UFC 141 event in Las Vegas.

As for a potential opponent, Belfort has his sights on the winner of an upcoming UFC 136 fight between Chael Sonnen and Brian Stann. He'd be happy with either opponent. But for very different reasons.

A week ago, Belfort was forced out of UFC 139's co-headliner with former Strikeforce champ and UFC newcomer Cung Le. Wanderlei Silva ultimately took his spot on the November card.

So what exactly forced Belfort out of the fight? Well, he's not saying. Not specifically, anyway.

Other than his doctors and UFC officials, Belfort said the injuries are being kept quiet. One has been lingering, and the other is new. But Belfort, who decided to fight through those ailments in a recent knockout win over Yoshihiro Akiyama, could no longer put off the recovery.

"I just don't want to step in the octagon not (being) 100 percent," he said. "I see a lot of guys stepping in there just to make money. I'm not there just to make money. I'm there to win. I'm there to accomplish (something). I'm there for the belt, to make history. I want to fight to win, not just to show up."

Belfort, who was just 19 won he won a UFC 12 heavyweight tournament in 1997, said he just can't make the type of foolish decisions he did early in his career.

"I've done a lot of silly things," he said. "I fought with broken hands and things. But I can't abuse my body anymore. I'm 34 years old. I have four or five years more in my career. So the decisions I make, I made with doctors and people in my camp that I trust and the people that care about me."

Currently, Belfort is undergoing physical therapy twice a day for the next month. It's a regimen that's as an intense as a training camp, he said. After that, Belfort said he'll be ready to fight again in December (and even asked the UFC to put the Le matchup on the shelf until then, though officials couldn't oblige).

So with UFC 141 slated for Dec. 30 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Belfort is campaigning for a slot on the card.

"I hope I can be on that one," he said. "I'll be ready for that one for sure."

As far as an opponent, he's got one in mind. Actually, he's got two possibilities in mind, but there's one he really, really wants.

"One opponent I really want, I hope Chael wins," he said. "I really want to fight him. I think the winner of that fight, me and Chael, we'd be [ready] to fight for the title. His fighting always (goes) to a decision. He's a boring fighter, but I'll make sure that fight will end up quick, and I'll give him a fight he's never had in his life.

"I promise that."

Of course, if Stann wins, Belfort is happy to fight him instead. But he wants that bout for different reasons, even if it leads him to the same result: a title shot.

"If Stann beats Sonnen, he's in line," Belfort said. "I think Stann is a great fighter, a great person, a great athlete, a great man. He's sells fights with his fists, with his technique and his performance. Stann is a great fighter."

If that fight does happen, Belfort said trash-talking and boastful predictions won't be needed. He knows Stann, a decorated war veteran who's one of the UFC's most effective ambassadors, will save his talking for the cage. Belfort considers himself the same type of fighter.

But if the controversial Sonnen wins, Belfort plans to expose him.

"He's the type of fighter who can sell with his mouth," Belfort said. "He can not sell with his performance. He's a great wrestler, and he's a great fighter, but he's not exciting. ... He doesn't bring the heat.

"I do."