May 18, 2013; Jaragua do Sul, BRAZIL; Vitor Belfort (red shorts) celebrates after defeating Luke Rockhold (not pictured) during UFC on FX 8 at ARena Jaragua. Mandatory Credit: Jason da Silva-USA TODAY Sports

Last week, at the annual World MMA awards, Chris Weidman won the 2013 Fighter of the Year. In 2013, Weidman defeated what most would consider to be the greatest martial artist to ever step foot inside the Octagon, Anderson Silva. Not only did he defeat Silva and end his reign as the Middleweight champion, he defeated him twice. In July at UFC 162, Weidman defeated Anderson Silva by KO in stunning fashion. In the rematch at UFC 168, Weidman once again defeated Silva, but unfortunately it was due to a gruesome injury sustained by ‘The Spider’.

While many would agree that Weidman was the deserved 2013 Fighter of the year, one notable fighter disagreed. Weidman’s next opponent, Vitor Belfort, was not pleased with Weidman’s award and spoke about it to Brazilian media outlet, Globo (Courtesy of BloodyElbow):

Not that it should be me, but he wins because of just one fight? It was shameful. He won one fight. The other he haven’t won, it was an accident.

Belfort was up for the award as well with his own fantastic 2013 campaign. In three fights, Belfort defeated Michael Bisping, Luke Rockhold, and Dan Henderson all by way of head kick KO.

The Fighter of the Year award was not the only thing that bothered Belfort:

The ceremony in Las Vegas was pretty cool, but the votes are from the fans, not always they are right. Sometimes the results aren’t fair. Duane is a good coach, but, for the God sake, especially this year, the winner not being Dede Pederneiras…There is something wrong.

At the end of the day, Belfort has the opportunity to cash in on the only award that truly matters to him: the UFC Middleweight championship. At UFC 173, Belfort will face off against Weidman in a battle that is sure to bring fireworks.