In terms of hot MMA promotions right now, there may be none that is more of fire than the Singapore based ONE Championship.
Over the recent months, ONE has made several big-name acquisitions for their roster. Most notably being none other than former UFC champions Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson, Eddie Alvarez, and Miesha Tate (Vice President role).
Along with those three, ONE also added the likes of continually rising lightweight prospect Sage Northcutt as well as ‘Sexyama’ Yoshihiro Akiyama.
And it hasn’t stopped there.
Speculation has been brewing for some time now as to where Vitor Belfort may return to fight for, and that only picked up steam after he was recently seen with ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong.
ESPN’s Ariel Helwani first reported that MMA legend and former UFC light heavyweight champion, ‘The Phenom’ Vitor Belfort is also now joining the roster. Sityodtong officially confirmed the report shortly after.
“BREAKING NEWS: I am thrilled to announce that UFC Legend Vitor Belfort is now a ONE Championship athlete! A former UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight World Champion, Vitor holds the record for the most KOs in UFC history as well as the 2nd most finishes. #WeAreONE” Sityodtong said in a tweet.
For Belfort, his last fight came in May 2018 when he suffered a devastating second-round knockout loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 224. Following the bout, Belfort would announce his retirement from the sport.
However, that wouldn’t last, of course, as The Phenom announced he was returning and was a free agent in December 2018.
It will be extremely interesting to see how the 41-year-old Belfort fits into the mix with the many dangerous fighters that ONE has to offer.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/28/2019