Vitor Belfort pulls out of UFC 112, Demian Maia steps in against Silva

Vitor Belfort has pulled out of his UFC 112 bout with Anderson Silva with a shoulder injury that could keep him sidelined for the rest of the year.

Speaking to Tatame, Belfort’s manager had this to say:

“He sacrificed his body a lot, but getting inside the UFC was such a big motivation to him. Now he’s in really big pain and the new MRI showed the injury is getting worse. His doctor, Michel Simoni, said that Vitor needs to stop now because his shoulder can get out of place. His recovering time, according to Simoni, is five to eight months”

The UFC was quick to say that Silva would still be fighting on the card, and Demian Maia has now been drafted in to take the fight.

Confirming the fight on UFC.com, Dana White made the following statement:

“It’s always tough when a top fighter like Vitor Belfort has to pull out of a big title fight, but we have found a high quality replacement,” said UFC President Dana White. “Top contender Chael Sonnen was not available due to injuries sustained in his fight with Nate Marquardt, so top six middleweight Demian Maia will step in to fight for the title. Maia is an Abu Dhabi grappling champion, a five-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion, and he is 12-1 in MMA and coming off a win over Dan Miller at UFC 109. Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia will be a matchup between MMA’s best striker and MMA’s best grappler.”

Maia might be the best grappler in the game today, but I still have a feeling he’s going to get destroyed by Silva.

Bragging about ‘rapidly improving standup’ isn’t the same as being one of the best strikers in the sport, and Maia doesn’t have the kind of takedown ability that will give Anderson much trouble.

Personally I would rather see Anderson take on another 205′er, but not many of them are available either by the looks of it.

Topics: Anderson Silva, Dana White, Demian Maia, UFC, Vitor Belfort

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