Belfort: Cung Le Matchup Booked for November’s UFC 139
Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le has
reportedly reached a deal to join the UFC and will make his Octagon
debut against Vitor
Belfort.
Belfort announced Saturday on his official website that he will face Le on Nov. 19 as part of UFC 139. The pay-per-view event will take place at at the HP Pavilion in Le’s hometown of San Jose, Calif.
While not yet confirmed, Belfort-Le could serve as UFC 139’s new headliner, as the previous main event between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos was recently moved to Nov. 12.
Fresh off a first-round knockout of Yoshihiro Akiyama, Belfort (Pictured) will fight for the third time in 2011, once more than the previous two years combined. Since beginning his third UFC stint in September 2009, the 34-year-old former light heavyweight titleholder has gone 2-1, with stoppages of Akiyama and Rich Franklin sandwiching a brutal loss to 185-pound kingpin Anderson Silva.
Le, 39, has competed only once in each of the past three years. After stopping Frank Shamrock in 2008 to claim Strikeforce gold, the sanshou stylist vacated his belt to focus on a career in film. Le returned to suffer a come-from-behind loss to Scott Smith in December 2009, but avenged that defeat with a June 2010 knockout. Possessing a record of 7-1, Le has yet to go the distance in his MMA career.
Belfort announced Saturday on his official website that he will face Le on Nov. 19 as part of UFC 139. The pay-per-view event will take place at at the HP Pavilion in Le’s hometown of San Jose, Calif.
While not yet confirmed, Belfort-Le could serve as UFC 139’s new headliner, as the previous main event between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos was recently moved to Nov. 12.
Fresh off a first-round knockout of Yoshihiro Akiyama, Belfort (Pictured) will fight for the third time in 2011, once more than the previous two years combined. Since beginning his third UFC stint in September 2009, the 34-year-old former light heavyweight titleholder has gone 2-1, with stoppages of Akiyama and Rich Franklin sandwiching a brutal loss to 185-pound kingpin Anderson Silva.
Le, 39, has competed only once in each of the past three years. After stopping Frank Shamrock in 2008 to claim Strikeforce gold, the sanshou stylist vacated his belt to focus on a career in film. Le returned to suffer a come-from-behind loss to Scott Smith in December 2009, but avenged that defeat with a June 2010 knockout. Possessing a record of 7-1, Le has yet to go the distance in his MMA career.
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