‘He has a fighting soul’: Belfort’s toughness could lift Western football to new heights
Vitor Belfort was watching last Saturday’s Miami-Florida State game with his son, Davi.
They both felt terrible for quarterback Emory Williams when he broke his arm lunging for a first down with the game on the line.
Belfort, a former MMA world champion and no stranger to pain, asked his son why he put himself in such risk.
Davi understood completely.
“I asked Davi and he said, ‘Dad, he had to make that stretch and he got the first down, he had to make that play,” Vitor said.
Davi learned at an early age to fight - both literally and figuratively - when faced with adversity.
For a time, he even thought his professional sports destiny would take him to the octagon like his father.
Instead, Davi became one of the toughest and most prolific quarterbacks in South Florida.
Belfort (5-10, 185 pounds), a three-star quarterback prospect at Western High in Davie and Virginia Tech University commit, ranks in the top five in Broward County in passing after completing 150 of 232 passes for 2,257 yards, 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also ranks among the top 10 rushers in Broward among BCAA schools with 58 carries for 444 yards and eight touchdowns.
His leadership qualities and toughness aren’t measurable in statistics, however.
And they’re all a big reason Western is one win away from advancing to only their second regional finals appearance in school history. Belfort will try to lead the Wildcats (8-3) to this feat on Friday night at Tropical Park when they take on Miami Palmetto at 7:30 p.m. in a Region 4-4M semifinal.
“For a long time in my childhood, I was 100 percent sure I was going to become a fighter like him,” Davi Belfort said. “But I never lost that same fearlessness (on the football field), and I never think about the (pass) rush. I never let the rush dictate where I go with the ball and or dictate what I do with the ball.”
Belfort showed such tenacity the last time he played at Tropical Park as the quarterback for Miami Gulliver Prep - the school he played for before transferring last year to Western.
On Belfort’s last play for Gulliver last November, he never flinched…even as a defender knocked him to the ground where he’d remain for several minutes.
Belfort got the pass away for a touchdown that helped the Raiders beat South Miami that day. The play left him sidelined for the remainder of the season. But six weeks later, Davi was throwing footballs again.
“He’s the committed quarterback,” Vitor Belfort said. “Playing quarterback is like fighting with five guys at the same time. You have to have such tremendous tenacity…
“Davi has a fighting soul,” Vitor Belfort said. “He’s intelligent, processes information like no one and he’s amazing. He’s a great athlete but an even better person and I think that reflects on the field.”
When Vitor Belfort was 19, he became the youngest fighter to ever win a UFC tournament. The Brazilian-born fighter went on to become UFC’s light-heavyweight champion for nearly seven months in 2004 and fought Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture during his career.
Vitor, 46, has three children, Davi and two daughters, with his wife, Joana Prado. He doesn’t compete in MMA professionally anymore, but still boxes.
Davi grew up around his father around the fighting world practically since he was born.
“He was a baby and he was smelling the mat,” Vitor Belfort said. “He was exposed to the grind from an early age. He goes to school and then goes to the gym and wants to train, train, train. It made him a fighter on the field.”
Belfort said he knew his son had a fighting spirit since he was 10 years old.
“He would ask if he could spar with kids older than him,” Vitor Belfort said. “He whooped a kid three years older than him that was a pro amateur boxer. He would mimic me and said ‘Dad, I can fight like you.’”
Davi also boxes and knows jiu jitsu, both of which he said helped him develop mental toughness that’s made him a player who can improvise and make plays even when things break down during a play.
Belfort also learned not to be afraid to visualize his goals and even write them down. Belfort says he has goals such as “winning a state championship” posted on his bathroom mirror at home, motivating him every day to keep striving for more.
“The mental game is so big. My dad goes to war physically with another man inside a cage, but that takes a lot of mental discipline,” Davi Belfort said. “As a quarterback, so much is the mental game, taking one play at a time, one quarter at a time. I always share that with our players on the team.”
