In an exclusive interview over at BJPenn.com Belcher was asked a few questions on a next opponent, or if say Chael Sonnen who was to get injured while preparing for his UFC 117 fight with Anderson Silva would he step in to signing up to face the next top middleweight in Vitor Belfort.
“At the press conference Dana was, uhm, he wasn’t against the idea. He just said that he thought that Belfort would get the next shot after Chael Sonnen. Which doesn’t make any sense when Anderson only fights once a year and, you know. He’s got a fight at the end of this year. That’s going to be at least a year layoff for Belfort and then he has to wait until Anderson is ready to fight again. That’ll probably put him on at least 3 months later at the earliest. Probably 5 months later. So, he’s going to be out for a year and a half and than fight for the title??? I don’t know how that’s going to work out. I’m thinking that may happen too.”
Belcher is not against the idea of taking a fight against ‘The Phenom’ as he feels that a win over Belfort would definitely get him a title shot, but also believes that he may match up very well against another Brazilian in submission ace Demian Maia as well.
“I’d love to fight Vitor Belfort, he’s a legend, it would be awesome for my career. As far as match-ups go, stylistically, there’s a lot easier guys to fight for me. I mean, Belfort is a scary opponent. He’s really fast and he’s got power and you know, those two things right there are dangerous man. But I’m for a challenge of course. I would fight Anderson if I got the opportunity, I’m not scared of anyone and I know that whenever I get put on that big stage that I always rise to the occasion. I’m not expecting to fight Anderson unless something happens with an injury or something like that. I just wanted to put it out there and see what people thought about it and it sounds like to me that I may get a shot if there was an injury or something and that just builds my confidence up so much. So to me it was worth it to say what I did and ask for a title shot. Just to see what people thought and to see what the UFC thought because I think that I have a lot more respect from them now. But you know, back to Belfort, I think that that is a possibility and I’d love it man. I think that’s definitely a number one spot. Besides that, I match up well with Maia, that makes sense maybe.”
In 2009, Alan Belcher has been one of the more exciting fighters to watch in the UFC middleweight division as he has put up strong wins over Denis Kang and Wilson Gouveia and came up just short in a very great match-up with Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 100 where he felt he won that fight, but Belcher is off to a good start once again 2010 and a win over either Belfort, Maia or even Anderson Silva will ensure that no one ever forgets his name.
Props: fiveknuckles.com
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