Belfort recently returned to the UFC after a four year absence in September and defeated Rich Franklin in the first round with a TKO. He was riding a four fight win streak prior to rejoining the UFC. His last two fights came in the now defunct Affliction promotion where he viciously knocked out Matt Lindland and Terry Martin. Belfort has fought some of the biggest names in MMA including Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture and Wanderlei Silva.

Two of the other likely candidates, Nate Marquardt and Dan Henderson, had campaigned openly for the next shot at Silva's title. Both fighters backed up their request with impressive and decisive wins over strong competitors. Marquardt stopped his last three opponents with his most recent victory a 21 second knockout over submission ace Demian Maia. Henderson, who is also coming off of three straight wins, spectacularly knocked out Michael Bisping at UFC 100 in the second round and defeated former champion Rich Franklin in January with a close split decision win.

Despite the outstanding resumes of both fighters, Belfort was awarded the opportunity to take on Silva. Henderson is currently without a contract and at a stalemate in negotiations with the UFC for a new contract. Marquardt is understandably miffed about the current situation.

"To be honest, I have no clue what's going on," Marquardt told HDNet's Inside MMA. "To me, it's not logical that Vitor would get a shot after one fight at 195. It was his first fight back in the UFC, it wasn't even a middleweight fight, and he gets a middleweight title shot? It doesn't make sense to me, but it's not my decision, and I don't really care, I just want to fight."