Vitor Belfort has said that he respects Anderson Silva, but is not afraid of him. Both being Brazilian and having trained together in the past, Belfort has quite a bit of respect for "The Spider" and his abilities, but he pledges not to make the same mistake that many of Silva's past opponents have: respecting his fearsome aura too much.
"I think Anderson has a lot of power, a lot of skills," said Belfort. "Anderson is an expert [standing], his kicks, his knees, his elbows--I respect that, but I'm not afraid of that. I'm gonna face that."
Silva has taken criticism in the past for waiting for his opponents to bring the fight to him, something that those opponents who respected too much wouldn't do, with the result often being a boring fight. Belfort also promises to avoid that pitfall, asserting that he will be in Silva's face from bell-to-bell, looking for the win.