I spoke to Alan Belcher – and his trainer Duke Roufus – today for a UFC 100 article I did for Full Contact Fighter (July 1, 2009), and Belcher said some things that I found interesting:
- Denis Kang is the top UFC middleweight contender.
- Yoshihiro Akiyama is the top UFC middleweight contender.
- Nate Marquardt is the top UFC middleweight contender.
- Roufus and Belcher both said – in separate conversations – that Marquardt is the toughest dude in the UFC middleweight division.
- He will beat Akiyama at UFC 100, Marquardt will beat Maia, and Marquardt and Belcher will then fight for top contender status. Henderson and Bisping? They're good, but they have to wait.
Another Request Granted for Alan Belcher at UFC 100
by Matt Kaplan
Alan “The Talent” Belcher has been asking for it.
The colorful, 25-year-old middleweight and his trainer, famed kickboxer Duke Roufus, have been first in line to welcome some of the sport’s best middleweights to the UFC, and on July 11 at UFC 100, Belcher will take on perhaps his toughest opponent to date, Yoshihiro Akiyama (12-1). Ask and ye shall receive.
“Alan wants to fight the best to be the best. You can fiddle around with undercard status, or you can go for broke with the big fights,” says Roufus.
When the UFC signed Denis Kang last year, Belcher (14-5) and Roufus jumped at the chance to meet the former PRIDE star in the cage at UFC 93.
“Duke got on the horn immediately and started asking for that fight because he thought (Kang) was a good person for me to upset.” And that’s exactly what Belcher did, stunning much of the MMA world with a second-round submission win via guillotine choke.
The Arkansas-born middleweight knows that at UFC 100, he’ll be meeting one MMA’s most dangerous, well-rounded 185-pounders in Akiyama.
“I expect him to perform his best; that’s what I gotta expect,” Belcher explains. “He’s explosive, a good grappler, a power puncher. I expect him to have an aggressive style… I’m expecting the best Akiyama.”
And the best Akiyama, Belcher feels, is as good as there is in the UFC: “I think that Akiyama comes in as the top contender right off the bat…In my opinion, I think that Denis Kang and Akiyama are top contenders in the middleweight division – in the whole world, not just the UFC.”
With all the fanfare and star power attached to UFC 100, Belcher understands how big the opportunity of performing on the main card is, and he acknowledges the extra motivation and excitement he has in picking up his third consecutive Octagon win.
“It puts a little more pressure on me, in a good way,” he says. “Any time I’m on the main card and I get to show my stuff, I want to show people… There will be new people watching, and it kinda looks like there are the best fighters in the UFC on this card, so it’s a good opportunity for me to fight really well and be looked at as a top contender in the division.”
“The (UFC middleweight) ranking isn’t really structured in mathematics, so it’s pretty much just who’s hot after just one fight, you know. It’s not like you have to put together these long undefeated things, and it’s only the undefeated, or top two, three guys or whatever who get a (title) shot,” he adds when asked about the UFC’s middleweight pecking order.
“Akiyama, I think I’m going to beat him, and then I’ll be top contender, or maybe I’ll have to fight the winner of Marquardt/Maia, and I feel that Marquardt has a good shot of winning that. I think he’s the toughest dude in the division.”
Roufus shares Belcher’s assessment of Marquardt but is impressed with how well Belcher’s overall game – as well as his mental preparation - has improved.
“The one thing a lot of people don’t realize about Alan is the growth he’s made in the last few years in his training,” Roufus says. “I think he’s definitely going to start surprising more and more people.”
“I’ve had my up and downs,” Belcher admits, “but now I’m hitting my stride and getting some momentum and going for that belt.”
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