Brazilian Vs. Brazilian- UFC 126: Anderson "The Spider" Silva Vs. Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort

Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort could be easily confused by innocent bystanders as Brazilian soccer players with their agile and strong built physique. But to those real fans, these two fighters are known as legends in the UFC. Presently, Anderson Silva is UFC's longest reigning champion, still undefeated since winning the middleweight title from Rich Franklin in October 2006.

He will take on "The Phenom" on February 5 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"I am very happy to be fighting someone like Vitor. Before I started fighting, Vitor was already a young champion, so it's great to be able to fight him now," he said in a UFC interview. Anderson, a native of Curitiba, Brazil, has thirty-one fights and a record 26-4-0. He tends to be more successful with his takedowns than with his strikes making him a defensive statuesque opponent at 6'2.

Vitor Belfort is supposedly training with Mike Tyson. This has lead to some striking remarks from Shawn Tompkins on The Fight Show. He is no longer training under Belfort.

"Vitor has done this before. Vitor sometimes, he gets a little clouded in his head. It's not that he brought in Mike Tyson or anything like that. Vitor just wanders. . . and he goes where, you know, what's happening, what's famous, what's popular and he'll go over there and Mike Tyson isn't teaching him anything," he told Mauro Ranallo on the show.

But despite his remarks, Vitor doesn't seem clouded. The Rio de Janeiro native is preparing for the match-up like an animal literally.

"With two champions fighting in the ring, anything can happen. It's going to be a lion fighting a lion."

The Phenom has the advantage of hand speed and submission which he will surely use during the match. Hopefully, he won't resort to Mike Tyson's advice in ear biting technique.

Sources:
UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort. UFC.com
UFC 126: Shawn Tompkins Talks Vitor Belfort. Bloodyelbow.com