Just over a year ago, Alan Belcher had one of the worst experiences a fighter can endure.

Belcher had just started to make his name in mixed martial arts, losing a fight to international star Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 100 that many onlookers, if not most, thought he won. He followed that with a pair of impressive finishes and his name started showing up on lists of the UFC’s best middleweights.

He was in Brazil, working extensively on upgrading his grappling game, and preparing himself for the biggest fight of his career, against ground specialist Demian Maia. A win would have put him in the top rung of the middleweight contenders.

One morning, though, Belcher woke up and couldn’t see out of his right eye.

To this day he can’t pinpoint what happened. But he spent the remainder of 2010 under the impression that his fighting days were over.

"It might have been a punch that caused the initial tear and it got worse because it wasn’t treated," said Belcher, whose problems started a few

SAN JOSE, Calif. – When Luke Rockhold challenges Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza for the Strikeforce middleweight championship Saturday night, the first response from an awful lot of MMA fans will likely be, “Who is Luke Rockhold?”

Usually a title shot is reserved for someone with a string of consecutive wins against name fighters, or a victory over someone with a star name.

The 26-year-old from Santa Cruz, Calif. comes in with a 7-1 record, and while he looked spectacular in his last fight, that was more than 18 months ago in a sport where for prospects, “out of sight” means “out of mind.”

He’s had three wins on developmental Strikeforce Challengers shows, none of which were the main event. And with the exception of former “Ultimate Fighter” winner Jesse Taylor, even ardent fans would have trouble picking his other opponents out of a police lineup.

But those inside MMA have talked about Rockhold for years. He’s a 6-foot-3 middleweight with a complete striking game, strong wrestling and

How mainstream has mixed martial arts become? That question could be answered in part on Friday with the opening of the movie "Warrior.”

The film, which has gotten strong critical reviews, has the brutal fight action one would expect from a movie about a cage-fighting tournament.

But it’s surprisingly touching at points and gripping throughout with strong character development in exploring the long journey and motives of two brothers who are fighting for the $5 million first prize in a 16-man middleweight tournament.

The crux of the movie is the brothers. School teacher Brendan Conlan (played by Joel Edgerton) and emotionally challenged younger brother, Tommy Riordan (played by Tom Hardy) – who uses his late mother’s maiden name because he’s in hiding after going AWOL from the Marines in Iraq – are unlikely entrants into the elite two-night tournament. But besides them and their alcoholic father (played by Nick Nolte), nobody is aware of their relationship until a news report breaks

Anderson Silva had long ago solidified his claim as the best middleweight in the history of mixed martial arts. For most of the past few years he's been the consensus best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

After the ease in which he dismantled Yushin Okami on Saturday night at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the question that has to be asked is if he's the greatest fighter in the sport's modern history.

Silva (29-4) finished the sweep of Brazilian legends at UFC 134, the company's first show in the country in 13 years, winning by technical knockout at 2:04 of the second round.

After a close first round that had few telling blows until a head kick by Silva in the closing seconds, the middleweight champ came out in the second and overwhelmed Okami (27-6) in similar fashion to the way he took apart Forrest Griffin two years ago in Philadelphia.

Silva's win followed that of Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, who finished Griffin in a battle of former light heavyweight champions and

After his introduction to the general public on “The Ultimate Fighter" reality show two years ago, people thought of Brendan Schaub as an ex-football player, who, when his days in that sport were over, jumped on the MMA bandwagon.

But having grown up in Aurora, Colo., just outside Denver, Schaub can vividly remember the interest he had at age 10 when the first UFC came to town.

While he played all sorts of sports in high school, and later played in the Arena Football League and had a stint on the Buffalo Bills practice squad, his goal was nonetheless to get into the same Octagon as Royce Gracie.

When it was announced that UFC 134 was going to be held in Rio de Janeiro, one would have expected the UFC roster’s large Brazilian contingent to call the office and beg for a spot on the show. A big American ex-football player who came from the reality show, not so much.

"It was always a dream of mine to compete in Brazil," said Schaub, who faces one of the sport’s legends, Antonio Rodrigo

With a win Saturday night, UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will add yet another highlight to a résumé that one can argue makes him the greatest all-around fighter in the sport's history.

He would become the first UFC champion to hold the title for five consecutive years, a milestone he'd reach Oct. 14. He'd also be extending his other major records that include most consecutive UFC wins (he goes for No. 14) and most consecutive title defenses (he goes for No. 9).

When Silva (30-4) faces Yushin "Thunder" Okami (26-5) at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, it's not only the first fight in his native country in eight years, it's also the opportunity to avenge his most recent loss.

He also gets to return home to be part of the most heavily promoted event of its type in a country with an 80-year history of the sport. But even with the overwhelming demand for tickets, and Lorenzo Fertitta's talk earlier this week of running the second show in Brazil at a 100,000-seat soccer stadium,

The first time Forrest Griffin clashed with Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, it did not figure to be a good night for him.

Griffin (18-6) was one of UFC’s most popular fighters at the time, perhaps second to only Chuck Liddell, based on winning the first season of "The Ultimate Fighter" and his now-legendary final fight with Stephan Bonnar. He had an aw-shucks charm and self-deprecating humor that connected with the audience.

Liddell was the biggest star simply because he was the company’s badass knockout specialist. Nobody really saw Griffin as a top-tier fighter. A good fighter, sure, proficient in every area yet not elite was how he would describe himself. Nobody expected him to become a world champion or beat the top names in the sport. He was just a guy people liked to see fight because he was scrappy and gave his all.

Rua (19-5), on the other hand, was considered the best light heavyweight in the world by most, ranked No. 1 in the majority of the polls at the time. A win over Griffin,

There are many who consider Brazil the birthplace of mixed martial arts, but on Aug. 27, when UFC returns to the country after a 13-year absence with a show at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, it will be presenting something far different from the legendary vale tudo matches that are the sport's roots.

As far as where the sport started, like most early sports histories, there is a combination of fuzzy memories and legends passed down by generations. The idea of mixed styles fighting may really date back to the sport of Pankration at the original Olympics in Greece some 2,800 years ago. There were also fights of this type in the late 1800s in Japan. But the UFC itself was the brainchild of Rorion Gracie, son of Helio Gracie, a sports legend in Brazil for his vale tudo fights dating back to 1930. The term translates roughly from Portuguese as "anything goes."

While coming to Rio de Janeiro was hardly a business miscalculation, UFC President Dana White now looks at this in one sense that