Vitor Belfort: Sonnen ‘relieved’ not to fight me

Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort (23-10 MMA, 12-6 UFC) was one of many fighters to call out Chael Sonnen (29-13-1 MMA, 7-6 UFC) following Sonnen’s defeat of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC Fight Night 26 in Boston.

While Chael told members of the media that he would be happy to take a fight with Belfort, “The Phenom” believes that Sonnen was more than likely relieved when the fight wasn’t made:

“He was really relieved that the UFC didn’t give him to me,” Belfort said. “He was like ‘I’m glad I don’t have to fight Vitor.’ We have friends in common and one time he was on his camp and (Sonnen) said ‘one of the guys I’d never like to fight is Vitor Belfort’. I’m cool, man. He’s around, I’m around. One day he’ll have to face me. It’ll be a great fight. One day. Who knows?”

Belfort is set to rematch Dan Henderson (29-10 MMA, 6-4 UFC) this November at UFC Fight Night 32 in Goiania, Goias, Brazil. As for “The American Gangster”, Sonnen is aiming to return to the cage at UFC 167 in November, although no opponent has been named for him at this time.