With Okami on tap, Belfort staying the course

Chael Sonnen almost did what most thought was impossible. At UFC 117, Sonnen came within a minute of pulling off the upset over UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva. For that, he now gets an immediate rematch. But that also means Vitor Belfort's chance at Silva gets pushed back even further. It's par for the course for the snakebitten former UFC light heavyweight champ who was scheduled to face Silva several times at the start of 2009. First it was Silva that got injured (UFC 108 and 109), then Belfort suffered a shoulder injury (UFC 112) and now Sonnen has moved in front of him again. But the Brazilian, who is one of the more spiritual guys you'll find in MMA, knows his chance will come eventually."I've learned one thing in life. Everybody has a course. Everybody has a path," Belfort told Adam Hill from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I
know where I want to go, and I know I'm going to get there. I know what I have to do to get there. The obstacles
in the way, I don't choose. God knows, my job is to get through them."Belfort will get Yushin Okami next at UFC 122 in Germany. It's a huge fight for Okami, whose best UFC wins are over Mike Swick, Alan Belcher and Mark Munoz. If Belfort loses he tumbles way down the middleweight ladder. Even with a win, the earliest Belfort could probably face the winner of Silva-Sonnen (tenatively scheduled for Jan. or Feb. of 2011) would be May or June of 2011.  Belfort is going to mix things up while he trains around Las Vegas. Shawn Tompkins at TapouT Training Center is his head coach. He'll also be working at Xtreme Couture with boxing coach Gil Martinez and he'll drill jiu-jitsu with Robert Drysdale.Speaking of boxing, Belfort threw out a challenge for James Toney saying he'd like to face the boxer in the Octagon under boxing rules. Toney, desperate to cash another big check from the UFC, already accepted the challenge. That said, the chances of this happening are slim and none. Dana White doesn't seem too keen on working with Toney again and there's no way the promotion would officially go the freakshow route by holding special rules match.

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