Vitor Belfort Set to Meet Cung Le at UFC 139

Pairing should produce explosive results in San Jose

Former UFC light heavyweight champion and current middleweight title hopeful Vitor Belfort announced on his personal website Friday night that he will be returning to the cage at UFC 139 in San Jose, and he’ll be stepping into enemy territory when he does.

Belfort will meet San Jose native and former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le. The bout is expected to serve as the main event.

Le has fought just twice in the last three years, splitting a pair of bouts with Scott Smith after relinquishing his title to focus on his burgeoning acting career. The 39-year-old expressed an interest in returning to action as soon as the UFC event in San Jose was announced, and it appears that he’ll get his wish.

After suffering a devastating first round loss to Anderson Silva back in February, Belfort rebounded with a first round knockout win over Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133. While he lobbied for a speedy return to the top of the list of contenders following that victory, UFC President Dana White rebuffed his advances, stating Belfort needed a couple more good wins to get back into the mix. A win here would certainly help his efforts to climb back up the ladder.

This bout should prove to be an exciting battle of two very dangerous strikers. All seven of Le’s career wins have come by way of stoppage, while Belfort counts 14 of his 20 wins by some form of knockout.

Be sure to keep checking Heavy MMA for further updates to the UFC 139 fight card.