Vitor Belfort vs Rich Franklin at UFC 103 in Dallas!

As predicted by Dana White, Vitor Belfort has been signed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship and now has his first fight lined up already. He has signed to fight Rich Franklin at UFC 103 in Dallas, Texas. Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort began his UFC career at the tender age of 19. He would go on to win the UFC 12 Heavyweight Tournament that evening. He went on to defeat Tank Abbott via ground and pound before facing "The Natural" Randy Couture in 1997, a fight in which he suffered his first defeat via TKO. He would then go on to defeat Joe Charles and Wanderlei Silva before leaving the UFC for Pride. He lost his first fight in Pride against Kazushi Sakuraba, but then rattled off 5 wins in a row over the likes of Gilbert Yvel, Bobby Southworth, Heath Herring, Daijiro Matsui and Yoshiki Takahashi before returning back to the UFC. In his return to the UFC, Belfort went 2-3 with wins over Marvin Eastman and Randy Couture and losses to Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz. He then went on to try his hand at professional boxing, winning by TKO less than a minute into the first round. After his boxing debut, returned to Pride to face Dan Henderson. He lost via unanimous decision and tested positive for steroids after the fight, causing him to be suspended for 9 months. Upon returning from his suspension, Belfort signed with Cage Rage. While fighting for Cage Rage, Belfort defeated Ivan Serati and James Zikic to become the Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Champion. He then signed with Affliction. While with Affliction, he defeated both Terry Martin and Matt Lindland via KO. After Josh Barnett was forced to step down from his fight with Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction "Trilogy", Belfort was expected to be the replacement. On 24th, Affliction MMA canceled the event and closed their doors. This made Belfort a free agent. White let it be known prior to the closing of Affliction that he was interested in having Belfort in the octagon again and now he had his chance to make it happen. Today, White announced that he had indeed signed "The Phenom" and he will be making his octagon return against Rich Franklin at UFC 103. Franklin was slated to have a rematch with Dan Henderson. Belfort will be replacing Henderson and Henderson is now next in line to challenge Anderson Silva for the belt after his fight with Forrest Griffin. As far as the Franklin/Belfort fight is concerned you can expect a stand-up war between these two fierce strikers! The hardcore fans that have been following MMA from the beginning are very familiar with Belfort and what he can do. The general population and new fans of the sport may not yet know Vitor Belfort but come UFC 103 one thing is for certain, win or lose, everyone will know exactly who "The Phenom" is and the abilities that he possesses.