Vitor Belfort earns Karate blue belt

By Erik Engelhart

Photos Erik Engelhart

Last Saturday, TATAME.com went to Kobukan gym, in Rio de Janeiro, to watch a historical moment in the martial arts history. In Master Tanaka’s academy, Vitor Belfort was graduated for the first time in the Karate, art that he started training in last few months for the fight against Rich Franklin. The UFC fighter received the belt from his coach, the black belt Vinício Antony.

“The idea with this blue belt is bring Vitor to the martial art context, where he’ll have to grow. Besides the status he has in MMA, he’s just a beginner here, but he’s virtuous and learns very easily, develops what he learns very fast and has a lot of fights, what will make his way to the black belt shorter”, commented Vinício.

Vitor took the class normally like all the athletes in the gym and, after the training, he earned the blue belt and commented the conquest to TATAME.com. “It’s a very important acquisition to me. We need to have a base in everything we do in life, so I’m creating my base and I’m having a lot of fun. I’m very happy to learn a new martial art and I’m very satisfied to meet Master Tanaka, a legend in this sport”, commented the new Karate blue belt.