Middleweight Vitor Belfort will take on Jorge Santiago at Affliction 3: "Trilogy" on Aug. 1 in Anaheim, Calif.
MMAWeekly.com confirmed the match-up through sources close to the fight. It is expected to be on the event's main card.
Belfort was originally rumored to face Gegard Mousasi, but Mousasi wanted to fight at a catchweight in which Belfort declined. Mousasi is now scheduled to fight Renato "Babalu" Sobral, who's a top ten LHW fighter. Jorge Santiago is also a top ten fighter, albeit at middleweight. He's also a UFC veteran that went 1-2 inside the promotion, but has won his last 9 fights since leaving the UFC. He's stopped all nine of those opponents with most of them being against very good middleweights.
Belfort is also a UFC veteran fighting mostly at LHW, but has since dropped down to middleweight. He was last seen at Affliction 2, destroying Matt Lindland with a devastating KO. The fight has big implications on the world rankings at middleweight. A win for Belfort here has to push him into the top ten, and a win for Santiago gives him good exposure and continues his dominating winning streak.
The rumored card for Affliction 3 is as follows:
MAIN EVENT: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett
Tim Sylvia vs. Paul Buentello
Gegard Mousasi vs. Renato Sobral
Vitor Belfort vs. Jorge Santiago
Jay Hieron vs. Paul Daley
Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon
Ben Rothwell vs. TBA
Mark Hominick vs. TBA
What do you all think about this proposed Affliction 3 card?
Loading comments...