UFC President Dana White made a surprising revelation Saturday that he would like to see former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort take on current UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.

White teased the matchup on the "Inside The Octagon" segment during The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale broadcast on Spike TV.

"While Anderson Silva is fighting Forrest Griffin, I'm working on some other 185-pounders," White told host Amir Sadollah. "Vitor Belfort, he is a former heavyweight who moved down to 205. Now he's at 185 pounds, he's got great hands, he's good on the ground and if his head is right he can be a very dangerous guy. I think that would be a great match up."

It's surprising White would even bring up Belfort's name since the Brazilian is currently signed to fight Jorge Santiago at Affliction: Trilogy on August 1. Does White have something under his sleeve? Or will there simply be a massive bidding war between the UFC and Affliction after Belfort's fight on August 1?

Middleweight fighter Dean "The Boogeyman" Lister requested and received his release from his UFC contract following a loss to Yushin "Thunder" Okami at UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008 in December 27. He will seek a deal with a new employer in 2009. The news was confirmed on Sunday by Lister's management team at Haymaker's Empire.

According to the management team, Lister requested the release and the UFC granted his leaving the promotion. The former Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Absolute Division Champion and King of the Cage (KOTC) Middleweight Champion is already in talks with several promotions, including DREAM and Affliction, for a new deal.

During his time with the UFC, Lister amassed an impressive 4-2 record with wins over fighters like Jeremy Horn and Alessio Sakara, with his only losses coming against Nate Marquardt and Okami in his last bout. However, he has not been a fan favorite due to his reliance on his grappling. He's won nine times by submission but never won by KO or TKO since debuting in September 2000. Eight of of Lister's 19 career fights have gone the distance.

With his release from the UFC, Lister is not looking to sit out for very long. He wants to return soon with a new promotion.

The grappling guru is also looking for a shot at a fighter such as Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza or possibly the new Sengoku Middleweight Champion Jorge Santiago to get back in against top competition and prove his meddle as one of the top submission artists in mixed martial arts.

One of the biggest friends of Gesias Cavalcante in American Top Team, Jorge Santiago is training for his fight at Sengoku, in January, when he takes a shot against Kazuo Misaki for the middleweight title. Set to fight in Japan in January 4th, Jorge Santiago will follow Gesias in his fight at K-1 Dynamite, against Joachim Hansen, champion of the DREAM lightweight GP.

"Gesias is a monster! He's training in a way that sometimes I don't know where he takes so energy (laughs). He's training to don't happen any surprises at the fight, he's with the ground, striking and wrestling well-trained… You can wait that he'll give a great show," guarantees Santiago, that discards the ambience of revenge between the fighters, that faced themselves in Shooto, in 2004, and finished with victory of the Norwegian. "I don't see it like a revenge, but like a new meeting. Gesias in that time was very young, that was his third professional fight and, of that time for now, he has changed a lot, like Hansen did."

If in the first meeting between the fighters Hansen won, Jorge has not doubts in his bets. "I can tell you certainly that the fight will be completely different. If somebody tells me that Hansen is two times better today, I can assert you that Gesias is ten times better than before (laughs)," guarantees Jorge, who continues in Japan after the fight of Gesias, to fight with Misaki in Sengoku and still support the team partner Antônio Bigfoot against Yoshihiro Nakao, in the same night.

Taken from: tatame.com

World Victory Road presented Sengoku 6 last Saturday at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Here are the complete results for the show:

Main Card

• Antonio Rogerio Nogueira def. Moises Rimbon by unanimous decision

• Muhammad "Mo" Lawal def. Fabio Silva by TKO (strikes) at 0:41 of Round 3

• Sergey Golyaev def. Takanori Gomi by split decision

Lightweight Grand Prix Semifinals

• Kazunori Yokota def. Mizuto Hirota by unanimous decision

• Satoru Kitaoka def. Eiji Mitsuoka by submission (heel hook) at 1:16 of Round 1

Lightweight Grand Prix Reserve Bout

• Jorge Masvidal def. Seung Hwan Bang by unanimous decision

Lightweight Grand Prix Finals

• Satoru Kitaoka def. Kazunori Yokota by unanimous decision

Middleweight Grand Prix Semifinals

• Kazuhiro Nakamura def. Yuki Sasaki by unanimous decision

• Jorge Santiago def. Siyar Bahadurzada by submission (heel hook) at 1:10 of Round 1

Middleweight Grand Prix Reserve Bout

• Joe Doerksen def. Izuru Takeuchi by TKO (strikes) at 0:41 of Round 3

Middleweight Grand Prix Finals

• Jorge Santiago def. Kazuhiro Nakamura by TKO (strikes) at 0:49 of Round 3