Was Vitor Belfort the Right Choice?

The UFC made it known that they wanted Jones to defend the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 152. Dan Henderson was out due to injury. Next up was supposed to be Machida, but he turned it down. Then Shogun was asked, but another refusal followed. The UFC was left with few options.

They could have propelled Alexander Gustafsson or Glover Teixeira into title contention, but neither possess much name appeal for pay-per-view purposes. Chael Sonnen may have volunteered for a shot at Jones, but now he would have to win at least one fight at 205 lbs. to be considered a title contender, or so we thought. Instead of Sonnen getting the title shot another former middleweight, Vitor Belfort, was tapped for the main event. The UFC could have had Jones wait for a more suitable opponent, but they did not, so now we have Jones vs. Belfort, in a somewhat head-scratcher of a championship fight.

Jones is a huge favorite for good reason, but Belfort still possesses some of the fastest hands in the sport. If Belfort can connect, he is fully capable of pulling off what Matt Serra did against Georges St.Pierre.

Looking back on it all, Vitor was the perfect choice considering the injuries and refusals to fight from Machida and Shogun.

Machida and Shogun deserve full training camps for Jones because it would likely be their last shot at fighting for the title.
Gustafsson and Teixeira are rising prospects, but why rush them on 4 weeks notice against arguably the best fighter in the world.
Chael Sonnen and Jon Jones will happen if Sonnen wins a fight at 205 lbs. That is a marquee fight that the UFC would likely enjoy hyping for months instead of weeks.
All that was left was Vitor. Anderson Silva was out. Rampage, Phil Davis, and Thiago Silva were all coming off of losses. Vitor was it.