Karate Champ Joins Belfort in Final Preparations for Silva

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South American karate champion Jayme Sandall arrived in Las Vegas this week to assist Vitor Belfort in the final stages of training for Belfort’s UFC middleweight title bout with champion Anderson Silva on Feb. 5 at UFC 126.

As a member of the Brazilian national karate team, Sandall has formed a close relationship with the family of fellow Shotokan practitioner and Silva training partner Lyoto Machida, particularly Lyoto’s father, Yoshizo.

“Yoshizo is our official head coach,” Sandall told Sherdog.com on Monday. “Also, I’m very good good friends with all of his sons. Actually, I’ve already faced all of them in karate competitions, but that’s normal in karate and we’re very good friends.”

Considered one of the finest and most technical Brazilian karatekas, Sandall previously imparted his skills to “The Phenom” prior to Belfort’s return to the UFC against Rich Franklin in September 2009. The game plan which Sandall helped draw up lead to a first-round TKO victory for Belfort. Now, they seek to repeat the feat against dominant champion Silva.

“We’re going to create a technical and tactical work. Actually, we’ve developed a series of karate movements to create a specific strategy for this fight,” Sandall said. “Karate, once again, will come to sharpen Vitor. He’s already in great shape, and his striking and ground games are sharp. Now, we add the timing and distance, both for offense and defense.”

Sandall was eager to return to Vegas after a positive experience before the Franklin bout, when he lived in Sin City with Belfort for almost two months.

“Vitor is such a humble person, very easy to work with. Furthermore, he really is a phenom. Everything you show him, he learns and adapts to his game so quickly. Working with him 24 hours a day for such a long period of time in Vegas was a great professional experience,” said Sandall, who went on to predict a war between his sparring partner and Silva.

“Anderson is one of the most talented and skilled fighters in MMA, and he deserves all the respect, but Vitor is also such a special and talented fighter. He’s so focused on getting the belt right now. The fans can expect a historic battle.”