UFC President Dana White Confirms Tim Kennedy vs. Vitor Belfort in the Works for Brazil

A middleweight match-up between Vitor Belfort and Tim Kennedy is in the works for an upcoming event in Brazil, according to Kennedy and UFC president Dana White.

“I'm going to brazil to fight Vitor! I'm bringing ranger panties, Greg Jackson and Ranger Up,” tweeted Kennedy on Friday.

White fell short of saying the fight was a done deal, but he did tell MMAFighting.com, “We’re talking about doing Vitor Belfort vs. Tim Kennedy in Brazil.”

Even before Anderson Silva crashed to the canvas at UFC 162, Belfort had been lobbying for another shot at the UFC middleweight championship, but his wish will not be granted.

Belfort (23-10) is coming off of back-to-back knockout victories over Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold, both in Brazil. In fact, Belfort’s only loss since failing to capture the belt from Silva at UFC 126 two-and-a-half years ago has been in a last-minute shot at light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

That leaves him as a strong candidate for a middleweight title bid. Silva, however, just lost his first bout in the UFC, and was granted an immediate rematch with current champion Chris Weidman at UFC 168 in December.

It looks like Belfort will instead draw Kennedy (16-4), who has also won his last two bouts. Kennedy defeated Roger Gracie in his promotional debut at UFC 162 on July 6. That followed a win over Trevor Smith at the final Strikeforce even in January.

White didn’t specify what event that the UFC is targeting for Belfort vs. Kennedy.

Several MMAWeekly.com sources have indicated that the promotion would follow its Sept. 4 event in Brazil, headlined by Glover Teixeira vs. Ryan Bader, with another show in the South American country on Oct. 9, which would be a prime target date for Belfort vs. Kennedy.

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