Vitor Belfort meets Nate Marquardt in retirement fight at UFC 212
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Vitor Belfort will close out his legendary career with one more fight at home.
The former UFC champion will make his last walk to the Octagon with a fight against Nate Marquardt on June 3 at UFC 212 in his native Brazil.
UFC officials announced the pairing on Monday.
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Belfort (25-14) stated following his last fight against Kelvin Gastelum that as he entered into the final bout on his current UFC contract that he was planning on retiring aftewards.
The 40-year old veteran had hoped to book his last fight for the upcoming card in Rio de Janeiro as a fitting swan song for a career inside the Octagon that stretches back more than 20 years.
Belfort sent out a message on his Instagram account on Monday speaking about the fight scheduled for UFC 212.
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"I started my UFC journey 20 years ago, at UFC 12 and exactly 200 events after [on] June 3, I will be making my last appearance for the organization at my hometown, Rio de Janeiro," Belfort wrote.
"I'm expecting you at the arena so I can say thank you in person to you all that have been with me along this way. Always together!"
Meanwhile, Marquardt (35-17-2) will look to play spoiler to Belfort's final fight as he returns to action for the first time since January when he dropped a unanimous decision to Sam Alvey.
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Marquardt has faced a mixed bag of results since returning to the middleweight division in 2014 while amassing a 3-4 record overall at 185-pounds in his most recent performances.
UFC 212 goes down on June 3 with Jose Aldo meeting Max Holloway in the featherweight title unification main event.
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