(It’s time you and Vitor had a talk about that investment portfolio he’s been managing for you. You better sit down for this.)

Just a day after former Dream middleweight champ Gegard Mousasi told everyone that he was fighting Vitor Belfort at Affliction III this summer, Belfort has responded by saying that Mousasi needs to put down the fork if the two of them are to have any shot of getting it on. Talking to those clever translators at Tatame who can make any foray into the English language an adventure, Belfort said he hasn’t gotten any confirmation from Affliction regarding his next fight, but added:

If you’re thinking Mousasi might have something to say to Belfort about who does and who does not have much name, you’re right. Talking to everyone’s favorite mouthpiece of Russian fighters, M-1 Global, Mousasi said he absolutely, positively cannot make middleweight, “and that is final." He then went on to suggest that Belfort might be ducking him:

Two things here: 1) Mousasi has a point about the rankings. He is generally ranked above Belfort at 185 lbs., and considering that Belfort’s last two wins came against an aging Matt Lindland and a typically mediocre Terry Martin, Mousasi would be a step up, but 2) Mousasi isn’t even open to fighting him in the division where he is ranked higher, so the rankings are sort of irrelevant. And if he can’t understand why someone might be willing to go up in weight to take a fight with Fedor, but maybe not so much to take a fight with a guy even fewer mainstream fans have heard of, than he is either underestimating Fedor’s name value or overestimating his own.

That said, Belfort should try and work something out at a catchweight. There just aren’t that many available top ten middleweights for Affliction to give him, so this is probably the highest profile fight available to him right now. Just grab a couple of steak sandwiches and milkshakes, and let’s do this thing at, say, an even 200 lbs.