Vitor Belfort wasn’t a boxer. He didn’t arrive as a boxer. He was a Gracie trained BJJ trained black belt who also knew how to box.
In fact the story of Belfort’s first MMA fight…
Vitor Belfort Vs Jon Hess (Superbrawl 2: 11th October, 1996.)
First, some background on Hess and what led to the fight.
Extracted from Clyde Gentry’s excellent, ?No Holds Barred: Ultimate Fighting And The Martial Arts Revolution? which can be bought via Amazon (among others.)
http://www.amazon.com/No-Holds-Barred-Ulti…TF8&s=books
Anyway, the extract which starts by describing Hess’s fight at UFC 5…
[quote]Another first round match produced one of the few examples of serious foul play in the UFC. The 6ft 7in, 295lb John Hess outweighed Texan Andy ?The Hammer? Anderson by 60lbs and was nine inches taller. The week of the fight, Hess had been in bully mode, pushing people and berating them with tough talk. His manager even challenged commentator Jeff Blatnick to a fight. He believed strongly in Hess’s fighting style, which he dubbed Scientific Aggressive Fighting Technology of America. Anderson was a self made millionaire who owned several businesses, including the Totally Nude Steakhouse in Longview, Texas; the place became so popular, yet offensive, that the city actually paid Anderson to shut it down. He was also a sixth-degree black belt in tae kwon do, and agreed to donate his UFC fight purse to one of three charities: School for the Blind, Feed the Children, or a cerebral palsy foundation.
As the match got underway, Hess lumbered toward Anderson throwing sloppy slaps with little technique. ?Instead of hitting, he scratched my eyes while we were standing,? said Anderson. ?Then he continued to scratch and hit me. I finally got him on the ground and got on top of him and he shoved one thumb into my eye so that I could barely see. Then he bit a chunk out of my hand, grabbed the back of my head, and shoved a thumb into my eye, popping it out of socket. I lost twenty percent of the peripheral vision in my right eye.? McCarthy stepped into stop the bout at 1:23; Anderson was visibly disgusted when Hess’s hand was raised. Hess was fined thousands of dollars for his dirty deeds, which was paid to Anderson and given to the School for the Blind. Backstage, Anderson found Hess balling his eyes out. He was exhausted, and since his hand was broken, could not continue.
A year and a half later, Hess chastised the UFC as a publicity stunt, opinions were due to appear in Inside Kung Fu magazine. To prove his point, he picked an ?easy? fight with an 18-year-old jiu-jitsu stylist. The match lasted 15 seconds. The jiu-jitsu man was Vitor Belfort who demolished Hess with super-fast punches.[/quote]
A Vitor Belfort quote on his fight with Jon Hess.
[quote]What do you remember of your first fight, in the ring at Super Brawl, in Hawaii?
Belfort: I remember that, at the weigh in, Magic Johnson and Shaquille O’neil bet a rolex on the fight. One of them even asked me how I could beat the big guy, and Carlson responded with a classic, “It’s no problem because the king of the jungle is the lion, not the elephant!” Only the winner would take the 10,000 dollar prize. It was a savage time, no holds were barred, and Jon Hess said he would stick a finger in my eye. I was 18 years old, I was terrified (laughs). But Carlson made me feel absurdly confident, and told my opponent: “You want to go in armed? Take a knife, we will let you!”[/quote]
And the fight…
It has bad video quality and there’s no sound. The clip is only 35 seconds long though. It’s a brutal destruction job. To use a colloquialism, nigga got fucked up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGm4io45z8E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGm4io45z8E
Finally, two postscripts.
First, a 2005 Sherdog interview with Jon Hess.
From…
http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=2416
[quote]Big Words from ?Big? Jon Hess
February 10, 2005
by Traci Ratzloff
?Given the chance to fight Vitor Belfort again, I will knock him out faster than he did me,? said ?Big? Jon Hess, referring to his second?and last?MMA fight, which took place at SuperBrawl 2. ?If I am allowed to return, I will be world champ!?
The 35-year-old San Diego native made his mixed martial arts debut in 1995?s Ultimate Fighting Championship 5 against third dan Andy Anderson. Hess easily won by technical knockout after only slightly more than one minute.
Said to be one of the dirtiest bouts in UFC history, Hess sees it differently: ?I would not agree that this fight was a dirty fight as the UFC billed itself as no rules. If there are no rules then how can you break them? It was a true fight in that Anderson was trying to hurt me, and I hurt him first.?
Hess first became interested in MMA when he saw UFC 4, which he ?thought was a joke,? particularly Brazilian jiu-jitsu master Royce Gracie, whom he said he ?could defeat very easily.?
During a 10-minute workout with Art Davie, Hess said he displayed his ?exceptional hand-to-hand skill and was allowed into the UFC.? With Lew Hicks and his new wife, Julie, in his corner, Hess entered the cage in 1995 for the first time.
After the bout with Anderson ended, an overweight Hess forfeited his position in the tournament. ?Two months prior to the UFC, I quit smoking (two packs a day), and I put on 40 pounds of fat,? he said. ?I was eating very unhealthy and drinking too much. After destroying Anderson, I was gassed and my right forearm and wrist were injured from striking Anderson in the side of his head. I didn?t think I could defeat Severn with just my left and without any energy.?
A year and a half went by and MMA enthusiasts had not heard a word from Hess. ?I believe that I was blacklisted by Art Davie,? he insisted. ?I was not allowed to return, and I could get no fights anywhere.?
After trying for 14 months, Hess grew extremely frustrated and quit trying and training. In October 1996, however, his disbarment from the sport ended when he received a call stating Royce Gracie?s brother ?Victor? wanted to fight him in four days at SuperBrawl 2. Hess had challenged Gracie after UFC 5, but nothing ever surfaced.
?After my bad experience in UFC 5,? recalled Hess, ?I got in shape to show the world that I was the best fighter, so I challenged Royce Gracie, and he was unwilling to fight me?probably because he knew that I would kick his rear end.?
When he received the call, Hess replied that he was no longer in shape, especially for a fight that would occur in four days, but was told he was being ?called out.?
?Because I had challenged Royce the previous year, I agreed,? he said.
Entering SuperBrawl, Hess quickly learned that the ?Victor? he had anticipated was in reality Vitor Belfort. In 12 seconds, Hess was knocked out, suffering a concussion.
?I believe Belfort was using anabolic steroids prior to and before our match,? Hess stated. ?Given the chance to fight him again, I will knock him out faster than he did me. I was sick and in the worst shape of my life, and I couldn?t overcome his steroid strength. However, Royce did get the last laugh, and I paid a heavy price of humiliation and a concussion.?
The MMA world has not seen Hess since. ?I had to get my life squared away before I could give fighting my best effort,? he said, ?so I retired after I humiliated myself against Belfort.?
Known for being the co-creator of Scientific Aggressive Fighting Techniques of America (SAFTA), a hand-to-hand martial art, Hess trained with Jerry Peterson, whom he believes ?is the smartest hand-to-hand instructor in the world. He is a great man, and I learned a lot about life and how to handle situations from him.?
Today, Hess spends his time playing sports and religiously lifting weights, planning for a career, once again, somewhere in the fight world.
Going back to the basics of training, Hess said he is now a ?considerably more dangerous man today than I was back then. I am also more humble and smarter. My punching power has increased exponentially, and I have an 82-inch reach.?
Weighing his options between a career in pro-boxing or MMA, he confides, ?I?ll either return [to the cage] by summer, or I?ll stay retired for good. I am confident in my abilities, as I believe that I could defeat Royce Gracie, Vitor Belfort and Frank Mir. I would be willing to take any of those matches, winner-take-all. I wouldn?t do that if there was a chance I would lose.?
Unwilling to fight again in smaller venues, Hess focuses on the UFC. ?There is no one at the UFC who I couldn?t defeat, but I don?t know if I am still banned as they have new owners.?
Though he has yet to step in the cage, Hess is well aware of how the sport has changed. In his own words he finds ?MMA has evolved and devolved at the same time. It has evolved in that the majority of fighters are better and more well rounded. At the same time, it has devolved in that the champs and better fighters are less dangerous and of lesser skill. Frank Mir is an example of this devolution. Rulon Gardner is an example of the evolution.?
?I believe the old UFC was more exciting,? he continued. ?With all of the cross training now, many of the UFC fighters seem to be Ken Shamrock clones. I think Mir is an example of these clones, and I would defeat him in less than 25 seconds.?
While he continues to train, preparing to show the MMA world just who he is and what he can do, only time will tell if fight fans will have the opportunity to see ?Big? Jon Hess live up to his big words?an event that is sure to be unforgettable.[/quote]
Second…
Vitor Belfort Vs Tank Abbott (UFC 13: The Ultimate Force. 30th May, 1997.)
search/belfort/video/ xiho1_vitor-belfort-vs-tank-abbott]http://
www.dailymotion.com/visited/search/…-vs-tank-abbott