Vitor Belfort is latest challenge for tenacious Anderson Silva

Vitor Belfort is latest challenge for tenacious Anderson Silva - Anderson Silva has four losses in his storied career, so he clearly falls in the first category. The question, though, is whether the reigning UFC middleweight champion will ever be in the second category again.

At UFC 126, Vitor Belfort is latest challenge for tenacious Anderson Silva. To paraphrase legendary football coach Bum Phillips, “There’s two kinds of mixed martial arts fighters: them that’s been beat and them that’s gonna git beat.”

Anderson Silva has four losses in his storied career, so he clearly falls in the first category. The question, though, is whether the reigning UFC middleweight champion will ever be in the second category again. Anderson Silva on his knees.

For 12 consecutive bouts, Silva has either submitted, knocked out or outlasted every opponent UFC President Dana White has thrown against him. This weekend, he faces the man who may be his stiffest challenge yet, former light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort.

Their fight tops the card of UFC 126 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas at 10 p.m. Saturday. It should be a great fight, considering the vast amount of experience between the two mixed martial artists, and the respect they have for each other.

Belfort praised Silva for the continual evolution of his skills as a fighter. That growth means studying tape of Silva’s previous fights is a study in futility. As his title defenses indicate, such study has yet to provide an “aha!” moment for any of the 13 opponents who have been seeking for a weakness.