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2. Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei Silva
UFC 17.5 “Ultimate Brazil”
Oct. 16, 1998 | Sao Paulo, Brazil
In what was arguably the signature performance of his career, Belfort locked horns with future Pride Fighting Championships middleweight titleholder Wanderlei Silva at the raucous Ginásio da Portuguesa. It did not unfold as Silva had hoped. Belfort smashed “The Axe Murderer” with a left cross during one of their first exchanges, chased him across the cage and pinned him to the fence with punches. Silva’s head resembled a speed bag, as “The Phenom” brought it to a dramatic and decisive close just 44 seconds into Round 1. Superstardom seemed inevitable, but Belfort took his talents to Pride six months later and dropped a unanimous decision to Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba, a maddening propensity for inconsistency beginning to take shape.

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