Vitor Belfort has dropped a bombshell ahead of his fight this weekend with Uriah Hall.

A career that has spanned nearly 21 years and which started in Sept. 1996, will apparently come to an end on Sunday evening at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

“This is my retirement fight,” Belfort told the UFC Unfiltered Podcast. “After that I’m going to put my body to rest. This is it. Breaking news.”

Belfort then went on to explain why now is the time for him to hang up the 4-oz gloves. Father time appears to have finally caught up with the UFC 12 Heavyweight Tournament Champion and he’s come to the realisation that his time in the sport as an active fighter is now finally done.

“I think I did more than enough,” Belfort said. “Just to think back, sometimes I flashback just like Matt said, and I’m like ‘Wow, I’m still doing this, wow man, this is crazy.’

“I’m very thankful, but I think my body need to rest. I have other things, I have a business of my own, I developed have a system, I developed a group class training system that we’re going to franchise. I just want to leave to help the sport in a way, work with the sport and help and do other things. We got to know the time to start and I think we need to know the time to end and it’s about time.”

Hitting 40-years-old appears to have played a big part in Belfort’s decision to call time on his career. Reflecting on what he’s accomplished, he’s happy with what he’s achieved ahead of his 42nd and final fight of his career on Sunday.

“You cannot tell me that the 40-year-old has a fresh body,” Belfort said. “Of course, it’s not the same. I’m very fortunate that I knew how to, I had a lot of experience and I had the chance to work with the best coaches and fitness products in the world, so I knew how to take care of my body, but I think it’s time you know. I’ve got kids and I want to be able to, I think I donate a lot of time in a lot of stuff to the sport and I think it’s time. I see the sport is growing and there are great talents.

“I’m just leaving the sport where guys in my era are never expected to still be fighting and still be relevant. I think I need to walk away and that was my journey. I accomplished a lot of great things and I want to do all the great things. I’m about to start on my second journey of life and I’m happy.”