One spin kick, and suddenly Vitor Belfort is in title contention again. Belfort downed Luke Rockhold at the UFC on FX 8 card in Brazil with a spinning back kick before finishing him Belfort-style with a flurry of punches.
After losing to Anderson Silva in 2011, then moving up to light heavyweight to challenge (and lose to) Jon Jones in 2012, Belfort is in line to challenge Anderson again in 2013. This assumes, of course, that Silva defeats Chris Weidman on July 6th.
Before the fight, we ranked Belfort #8 among middleweights, with Rockhold having reached #3 through a string of victories. But Brazilian fighters are particularly tough when they have home country advantage, and Belfort went in 3-0 and left 4-0 when fighting there.
So who should get the next shot at Silva? Here's how things will look to us at 185 at the end of the month (approximately):
| May Rank |
June Rank |
Fighter | WC | Rating | Rated Record | May Results |
| 1 | 1 | Anderson Silva | MW | 87.46 | 30-4-0 | |
| 8 | 2 | Vitor Belfort | MW | 30.76 | 22-10-0 | Beat #3 Luke Rockhold |
| 2 | 3 | Chris Weidman | MW | 30.52 | 5-0-0 | |
| 7 | 4 | Ronaldo Souza | MW | 25.62 | 13-2-0 | Beat #24 Chris Camozzi |
| 4 | 5 | Constantinos Philippou | MW | 25.13 | 5-1-0 | |
| 5 | 6 | Yushin Okami | MW | 24.76 | 19-6-0 | |
| 6 | 7 | Tarec Saffiedine | MW | 23.94 | 4-1-0 | |
| 9 | 8 | Alexander Shlemenko | MW | 21.76 | 13-2-0 | |
| 10 | 9 | Ronny Markes | MW | 21.54 | 3-0-0 | |
| 3 | 10 | Luke Rockhold | MW | 20.44 | 6-1-0 | Lost to #8 Vitor Belfort |
Though the undefeated Weidman (9-0-0 overall) has been pushed to #3, he'll have a chance to play spoiler for Belfort if a rematch with Silva for the title is his goal. If Belfort just wants the title, pure and simple, he might root for Weidman to pull off the upset, since the Silva rematch might be a hard sell—though viable opponents for Silva have been running out for a long time at this point.
Another potential storyline involves new #4, Ronaldo Souza, who beat Chris Camozzi last night. With three Brazilians among the top four, and the UFC doing more frequent promotions in Brazil, there is no shortage of potential matches that can be made that would be wildly popular there.
UFC 160: Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Silva matches #1 and #2 heavyweights
Almost everyone would rank Cain Velasquez as the #1 heavyweight; in our rankings, it's Antonio Silva atop a logjam at #2, making next week's showdown at UFC 160 a 1 vs. 2 matchup in our book.
| May Rank |
June Rank |
Fighter | WC | Rating | Rated Record | May Results |
| 1 | 1 | Cain Velasquez | HW | 63.51 | 8-1-0 | |
| 2 | 2 | Antonio Silva | HW | 54.96 | 15-4-0 | |
| 3 | 3 | Fabricio Werdum | HW | 53.77 | 15-5-1 | |
| 4 | 4 | Daniel Cormier | HW | 53.15 | 9-0-0 | |
| 5 | 5 | Alistair Overeem | HW | 45.70 | 29-12-0 | last win -17 months. |
| 6 | 6 | Junior dos Santos | HW | 43.90 | 9-1-0 | |
| 7 | 7 | Fedor Emelianenko | HW | 35.50 | 27-4-0 | |
| 8 | 8 | Josh Barnett | HW | 23.18 | 30-6-0 | last win -20 months. |
| 10 | 9 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira | HW | 20.77 | 32-7-1 | |
| 11 | 10 | Anthony Johnson | HW | 20.61 | 12-5-0 |
For most, a 1 vs. 2 match would be Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos, who is #6 in a crowded top six. Also ahead of dos Santos are Fabricio Werdum, who has done enough to earn a title shot right now; he will have to get past #9 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and if successful he should get the Velasquez-Silva winner. #4 Daniel Cormier is talking about moving down to 205; and Alistair Overeem hasn't had a good year and a half since beating Brock Lesnar in December 2011.
dos Santos takes the first step toward regaining his title next week at UFC 160 when he faces Mark Hunt, who is on a decent winning streak himself and ranks #13 currently.