A meeting of Brazilian mixed martial arts icons is in the works as Vitor Belfort and Lyoto Machida are set to meet in a middleweight matchup at UFC 224 on May 12 in Rio de Janeiro, according to multiple reports.
The former light-heavyweight champions are in the twilight of their respective careers yet still competing at a relatively high level and both coming off victories.
Belfort (26-13, on no contest) benefitted from a debatable hometown decision over Nate Marquardt at UFC 212 last June. Machida (23-8) did the same in his most recent bout, squeaking by rising middleweight contender Eryk Anders with a controversial split decision win in the headline bout of a Feb. 3 UFC Fight Night event in Machida’s home city of Belém.
Machida had been knocked out by Derek Brunson and Yoel Romero and submitted by Luke Rockhold in his three fights prior to facing Anders, while Belfort had been stopped in three straight by Kelvin Gastelum, Gegard Mousasi and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza before rebounding against Marquardt.
(Update: The UFC made this bout official on Feb. 20)
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