Former UFC fighter Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort came off a huge win over Terry Martin at Affliction’s first fight card back on July 19. Vice President of Affliction Tom Atencio announced that he had spoken to Vitor himself and that he thought he was good to go for the second Affliction event that is scheduled to take place on October 11 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unfortunately, his doctors advised him to cancel his next fight because his hand appeared to be broken from his fight with Martin. After thorough medical tests, it appears the hand was injured in two different places. Fighting again with the severed hand would only cause further complications toward his future bouts.
Affliction had told us not too long ago that Belfort would be fighting former Olympic silver medalist Matt “The Law” Lindland on the Affliction 2 “Day of Reckoning” fight card. Lindland also won his first Affliction fight to Fabio "Negao" Nascimento via a unanimous decision. He’ll be looking to add another win to his record and keep a streak going at his new organization.
Affliction 2 “Day of Reckoning” headlines a bout between former UFC heavyweights Josh “The Babyface Assassin” Barnett against Belarusian Andrei “Pitbull” Arlovski. Just when we thought we had two spectacular fights already on the Affliction 2 event, we hear that Belfort is scratched off from the fight card. The organization is now forced to find Lindland an opponent that will sound just as exciting. There are rumors stating that EliteXC fighter could be a possible opponent if ProElite (mother company to EliteXC) allows some sort of an agreement. Nothing is official yet, but we’ll be sure to keep you guys posted.
Here’s what theVice President of Affliction Tom Atencio had to say:
“Vitor is out, I spoke with him I think yesterday and he told me… Actually, it was on Tuesday we had a conversation for about an hour or so, and yeah, I guess he broke his hand in two places is what he told me and he had been having 2, 3 and 4 opinions on it. He finally got the opinion that he wanted I guess and they told him to step out for a while.”
Tom Atencio responds to the rumors indicating that Jake Shields could be a possible replacement opponent to fight Matt Lindland:
“I don’t confirm anything until I have all the papers signed… Jake’s a great fighter, but nonetheless it doesn’t matter because we don’t have him,” Atencio commented. “That’s a fighter that Pro Elite has.”
In an interview that Jake Shields had earlier this week, Shields comments on the possibility of fighting on the October 11 Affliction fight card if things go his way:
“Right now I have a really good offer on the table to fight a top 185-pounder… I’m just waiting, hoping Elite (XC) will give me that opportunity to go out there and represent Elite and test myself.”
