In the cold Las Vegas, Vitor Belfort is on a frenetic pace in preparation for the duel with the Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, confirmed for the next UFC edition in Brazil, on January 14.
To keep his hands quick, Vitor hired Gabriel de Oliveira, son of the Olympic medalist Servílio de Oliveira, to be his boxing coach. Servílio, a legend, is the only Brazilian Olympic medalist in the noble art, whose achievement was obtained during the Mexican edition of the Olympic Games, in 1968, and which will become a movie, sponsored by Petrobras.
“I’ll work on Vitor’s boxing. He is one of the best at it in MMA, but we could always help in something”, said Gabriel, who is 37. This Tuesday, Vitor received in Vegas the boxer Raphael Zumbano, Latin heavyweight champion, who will also help Belfort during the training.
Next to Belfort, there’s also the Jiu-Jitsu’s world champion Gilbert Durinho, in lightweight, and the trainer and GRACIEMAG columnist Alvaro Romano.
Check out the provisional card of UFC 142 Rio, with fights still not confirmed officially, like the last one below. Another Brazilian that can show up in the card is Fabricio Werdum, who asked to face Brendan Schaub, defeated by Minotauro in Rio, in August.
UFC 142 Rio
HSBC Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
January 14th, 2012
José Aldo vs Chad Mendes
Vitor Belfort vs Anthony Johnson
Thiago Tavares vs Sam Stout
Edson Barboza vs Terry Etim
Fabio Maldonado vs Stanislav Nedkov
Erick Silva vs Siyar Bahadurzada
Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares vs Mike Massenzio
Antonio “Pato” Carvalho vs Felipe Arantes “Sertanejo”
Rob Broughton vs Ednaldo Oliveira “Lula”
Paulo Thiago vs Mike Pyle