Mousasi presses for Belfort bout on Dec 28

PanARMENIAN.Net - Despite the fact Vitor Belfort has brushed off the idea of fighting Gegard Mousasi, "The Dreamcatcher" isn't going away easy and continues to campaign for a fight with the No. 2 ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight contender, mmamania.com reports.

Mousasi first brought up the idea of fighting "The Phenom" a few months back when he officially committed to making a return to 185 pounds after spending the most recent years of his career as a light heavyweight.

The former Strikeforce champion brought up Belfort as an ideal opponent for his return to the cage once he recovers from knee surgery; however, the Brazilian has brushed it off and admitted the potential match up doesn't exactly tickle his fancy, mmamania.com says.

That doesn't discourage Mousasi, though, as he feels a fight between himself and Belfort on the yearend UFC 168 fight card (headlined by a middleweight championship contest of Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva) makes all the sense in the world to determine the next No. 1 contender in the weight class.

He explained the situation to Brazilian news outlet Tatame: "The reality is this - Silva vs Weidman II is going to have to happen first on December 28th...Vitor has to wait for a title shot no matter what. I know the UFC wants to see this fight happen as they offered it to me for UFC Belo Horizonte in September. I could not take the fight because I just had surgery. So, it is inevitable that Vitor and I are going to have to meet first to determine who the #1 contender is. So my opinion is that we should also fight on December 28th on the same card as Anderson v. Weidman II to determine the #1 contender spot for the UFC middleweight title. It is as simple as this. Vitor and I were supposed to fight in the past for both Affliction and now the UFC. Vitor knows that it is inevitable that we are going to have to meet in the Octagon."