Vitor Belfort Says Next Fight Will Be His Last In UFC

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort will face Uriah Hall next month at UFC Fight Night St. Louis.

When he steps into the Octagon at UFC Fight Night St. Louis, it will be the former champion's 26th appearance for the company.

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That will also be his final appearance in the Octagon, ending one of the longest runs in UFC history. Belfort made the announcement through Instagram:

 

 

Exactly 43 years ago a princess was born. Her name was already pronounced sweet. PRISCILA VIEIRA BELFORT was born. Pri, wherever you are I really want this message to come to you. I hope in God's Eternity of all creation. You can have access to LOVE messages. In fact, our father had already said that love is greater than everything. And it is with this love that I come to congratulate you on your birthday. I promise that somehow I will celebrate this day as if you were by my side. Pri, my kids always ask you! They want to know every detail of your life. @davibelfort @vitoriabelfortoficial and @kyarabelfort it is logical that you could not forget your great friend @joanapradob who turned out to be your confidant ... rsrs Well ... we love you very, very much. And Pri just spoke to Mom and she promised that on this big day she will celebrate her birthday without staying at home. She told me she's going out and walking with a friend ... Daddy you know what it's like? LOL It's still the same ... That day especially we all wanted to be able to hug you and kiss you. I forgot to say; Dad returned to live in BH with our family. He is being very well taken care of there. All cousins ​​and aunts love you very much and say that they miss you a lot. All our cousins ​​have already become parents with beautiful children! You can not imagine every beautiful nephew we have !! Well I write this letter directly from Montreal in Canada, on January 14th I will do my last fight on @ufc. Pri, they have been fighting for 21 years and I confess that I can not wait to follow up on my second journey. In which all who participate will be winners. I and @joanapradob created @belfortfitnesslifestyle a new model of gyms and next year we started opening for franchises. We are very happy with the result. We have a huge list of interested people and our students have become a great family. I'm sure you would love our students, each with a wonderful story. Pri, right now I had to wipe away many tears from my face when I wrote this letter but I know that every tear is translated by God. Because only He understands that language. I Love you, my sister.

A post shared by Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort (@vitorbelfort) on Dec 5, 2017 at 8:28am PST

The former light heavyweight champion did make similar claims before his bout with Nate Marquardt at UFC 212, but rescinded after realizing he still had one more fight left on the contract.

UFC Fight Night St. Louis takes place on Sunday, January 14 from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri with no main event announced at this time. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on Fox Sports 1.