Vitor Belfort is calling for the UFC to match him with Anderson Silva as soon as possible, saying he is “sad” he was not able to fight the middleweight champion at UFC 112 on Saturday night. Belfort used his Twitter account yesterday to ask UFC president Dana White and company co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta to make the fight.

“Guys I am very sad that I was unable to not be fighting with Anderson. But Demian show a lots of respect and did good but now is my turn,” former light-heavyweight champion Belfort wrote. “Dana make this fight happen please... Lorenzo make this happen please, I want to fight Anderson.”

Shortly afterwards Belfort hit Twitter again to send another message to White, “Dana make this happen for me and all the fans.” Belfort also spoke to Tatame, the leading MMA magazine in his native Brazil, and sid he is looking at a return date somewhere “between August and October”.

Asked if was looking to be put straight into a fight with Silva when he returns he said “I’m working in this direction. My goal is to fight for the belt.”

Tatame also asked Belfort for his opinion on the Anderson/Maia bout. “Well, I don’t have to say much about it. The audience and Dana White has already spoken for me. This is the way I’m feeling about it now,” he said.

Belfort had been scheduled to face Silva in the headline bout of UFC 112 but a long-term shoulder injury flared up and kept him out of the fight. Silva’s team had been against the fight from the off, saying Belfort had not done enough to earn the shot. That may be a fair point but on the basis of Saturday night the UFC can at least rely on Belfort to force Anderson into a good fight.