Vitor Belfort vs. Lyoto Machida in the works for UFC 224 in Rio de Janeiro

“The Phenom” and “The Dragon” will collide in Brazil.

A middleweight bout between Vitor Belfort and Lyoto Machida is in the works for UFC 224 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 12, multiple sources told MMA Fighting. The event will take place at the Jeunesse Arena, same venue that held six of the previous eight cards in the city.

Belfort (26-13, 1 no-contest) is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Nate Marquardt at UFC 212, back in June 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, putting an end to a three-fight winless skid. This bout is the last one on “The Phenom’s” current deal with the UFC.

Machida (23-8) recently snapped a three-fight losing skid with a unanimous decision win against Eryk Anders in his adopted hometown of Belem, Brazil. “The Dragon” called out Bisping after the bout, but said he wasn’t opposed to the idea of fighting Belfort.

Three bouts were already officially announced by the UFC for the Rio de Janeiro event: Davi Ramos vs. Nick Hein, Alberto Mina vs. Ramazan Emeev, and Alexey Oleynik vs. Junior Albini.

Ariel Helwani contributed to this report