Vitor
Belfort recently interacted with larger-than-life figure from
another sport for the second time.
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Having lived in Florida with his family for more than 10 years, the
former UFC champion was in attendance at UFC
314 in Miami earlier this month.
In an exclusive interview with Sherdog.com, Belfort commented on
his meeting with basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, praised
The Fighting Nerds and advised former opponent Jon Jones to
not face Tom
Aspinall.
“In this video I made with Shaquille, he remembered the day we met
29 years ago. It was at my debut at Super Brawl 2 in Hawaii in
1996. I was 18 years old and he went to the event with the entire
Los Angeles Lakers team,” Belfort told Sherdog.com. “If I’m not
mistaken, the next day would be Kobe Bryant’s debut with the
Lakers. In this meeting, I told him, remember I told you that you
would fall in love with this sport. It was so nice to meet him
again, [with both of us] in attendance as MMA fans.”
After witnessing Jean Silva’s
victory over Bryce
Mitchell at UFC 314, the Carlson Gracie disciple made a point
of praising the work of Fighting Nerds product.
“I was very happy to see the new generation, especially The
Fighting Nerds team, a new team that in less than three years in
the UFC already has four ranked talents,” Belfort said. “Now that
my children are older, I hope to be able to help this new
generation that is coming up.”
When asked about the statement he made to journalist Helen Yee in a
backstage interview at the event, Belfort confirmed that he does
not agree with Jon Jones‚
decision to put his belt on the line against Tom Aspinal.
“Jones doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone,” Belfort said. “He
faced the toughest guys from three different generations. I would
like to see him leaving the sport undefeated. Tom
Aspinall is a risky fight for him. It would be great to see
Aspinall, but this guy is very young. He is at his peak. I do not
recommend this fight for Jones.”