(Getty)Vitor Belfort started his MMA career in 1996. To give you an idea of how long he has been around, consider this: When he made his debut, Michael Jordan and the Bulls were about to embark on their 72-10 season. Bil Clinton was the president. Yahoo was just two years old. "Beverly Hills, 90210," the greatest television show of all time, was on the air, and I was a senior in high school.

Since that first fight, a 12-second knockout of Jon Hess, he's fought 31 more times, putting together a record of 22-10. His 33rd fight is Saturday against Luke Rockhold, the 28-year-old Strikeforce middleweight champ.

Now 36, Belfort fought twice in a tournament at UFC 12. He knocked out two opponents in a total of two minutes. He went 1-2 against Randy Couture, beat Wanderlei Silva but lost to Kazushi Sakuraba. He's fought in Pride, Affliction and the UFC. He had Jon Jones in an armbar, coming the closest to beating Jones of any of the light heavyweight champion's opponents.

167686125Pat Healy made a memorable cross-over from Strikeforce at UFC 159. He submitted Jim Miller and won two bonuses to steal the show at the April event. Unfortunately, he also tested positive for marijuana after the fight. His fight result has been changed to no-contest, and he will have to give up the bonuses that totaled $130,000.

Thanks everyone for their support, made a huge mistake and gotta pay for it.

— Patrick Healy (@BamBamHealy) May 15, 2013

Healy both tweeted about the positive test and released a statement. He will be suspended for 90 days. Healy attributed the positive test to a night out with friends a month before the fight.

Marijuana's acceptance in the United States is growing. Medical marijuana laws are becoming more common, and it's legal in two states. However, it's still a banned substance that state commissions test for, and fighters know this going into their bouts. Healy apologized in his statement, and said he should have been a better role model.

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(Getty)After losing to UFC champions Anderson Silva and Jon Jones, Chael Sonnen called out Wanderlei Silva for a bout. Silva responded on Fuel's "UFC Tonight," and his words just may gross you out.

"Jon Jones and Anderson Silva have been too nice to Chael. I want to suck his blood. I want to smell it. Not just fight – I want to hurt him. Chael is a joke, man. He’s going to be second forever. He’s never going to be first," Silva said to Ariel Helwani.

MMA is a bloody sport, and we're used to seeing blood cover fighters, their clothes and canvases. But we are not vampires, sparkly or otherwise. Blood sucking, Wanderlei? Really? Perhaps Wand is a fan of the "Twilight" novels, but let's keep the vampire aspects out of MMA and in young adults novels, OK?

Sanko before her last fight (Sherdog)After winning her Invicta debut with a rear-naked choke, Laura Sanko was scheduled to fight on Invicta's July card. She had to pull out of her atomweight (105 lb.) bout. It wasn't an injury that knocked her off the card. She can't fight because she's pregnant.

Thx for all the well wishes! Sry I've been off twitter 4 a bit but this pregnancy is kicking my bootie so far&was waiting to tell the news!

— Laura Sanko (@laura_sanko) May 11, 2013

Sanko said she's about two and a half months along, so she will be well into her second trimester when the fights take place on July 13. Recent fights have been called off because of cuts, dehydration and injuries of every sort. It's nice to see a fight called for a good reason.

Female fighters have to submit proof of a negative pregnancy test before fights to get licensed. As an extra precaution, Invicta, an all-female promotion, does additional testing. Sanko found out with enough time that Invicta did find a replacement. Cassie Robb will fight Livia Von Pletterberg in Sanko's place.

This is Strikeforce champion Tarec Saffiedine's 2-year-old son, and he has some training to do on this laundry basket. Check out his technique on low kicks. Clearly, he has been watching his dad and learning from him. The older Saffiedine is making his UFC debut in July against Robbie Lawler. Will he be as effective as his son is against the laundry hamper?

Cat Zingano was the first mom to win in the UFC. (Getty)When Cat Zingano beat Miesha Tate at "The Ultimate Fighter" finale in April, it marked the first time a mother fought in, and won, a UFC bout. Weeks later, it was Sara McMann winning. Another mom, another raised hand. Mothers are  2-0 in the UFC.

Zingano told Cagewriter in February that she doesn't have to look far to find motivation in a fight because of her son.

"When someone has their arms around my neck, I think I have to be here for my child. Nothing's going to stop me."

But really, is there any surprise to see a mother win a fight? Whether it's getting her children to clean her room, getting a bully to back off, or just keeping her children alive, all moms are fighters.

My mom is a fighter. When she was a high schooler, that fighting spirit got her into trouble. It was before Title IX and well before women were allowed to wrestle or box or beat the snot out of their opponents in a cage. So she fought in the hallways of her high school, which led to many visits to many different principals' offices. Though she gave up her pugilistic ways as she grew up and had kids, the fighting spirit never went away. She fought for cleaner air, better schools, better programs for kids in our town, and when she was diagnosed with cancer, she decided to fight for the cancer survivors who had it much worse than she did.

My mother-in-law, too, was a fighter. After her second diagnosis of cancer, she fought to have the life she wanted in her final years. She knew cancer would end her life much too early, so she fought to spend time surrounded by family, friends and the gardens she so happily cultivated. Even when cancer stole every bit of her energy, she fought to spend her few minutes with her children, friends and family.

Every mom of a UFC fighter I've come across has been a fighter. Inevitably, her first fight was to keep her son or daughter out of the cage. After giving up that fight, she focused her fight to make sure her fighter was ready for the cage. Ronda Rousey's mom did this by waking her daughter up with armbars. Chael Sonnen's mom does it by being at her son's side when training. Rashad Evans' mom does it with motivational speeches that would make Eric Taylor proud.

If you can, spend some time with that fighter you call mom this Mother's Day. Listen to her stories about her fight. The next time you see a mom in the cage, it won't surprise you to see her with her hand raised.

There will be plenty of channels for fighters to ham it up for. (Getty)Remember when the only way to watch the UFC was on pay-per-view? And even then, the preliminary fights were only available to the people in the arena? It wasn't that long ago. On Thursday, the UFC announced three deals that will give fans more ways to watch their fights.

-- Fox Sports 1 is going to launch in August, and the new station will devote plenty of airtime to the UFC. It will start with UFC on Fox 1 1, an event name that needs work. The program covering this show will run seven and a half hours, meaning that an entire UFC event will be on one channel.

-- That will just be the start of the UFC presence on this channel, that will be a rebrand of the Speed network. A live show is planned for August 28, and another live show leading into "The Ultimate Fighter" will run on Sept. 4, with TUF starting at 10 p.m. ET.

-- Cagereaders in the United Kingdom will start watching BT Sport, as the UFC agreed to a three-year deal with that station. Like with Fox Sports 1, it's a new station, and will air live events and programming specifically for the UK market. Let's all hope for a Michael Bisping reality series.

-- The UFC also announced a new channel on YouTube. The promotion will offer a pay-for subscription channel that will give fans the option to watch some of their best known fights, and shows like "UFC Unleashed" and "Best of PRIDE" for $5.99 a month.

(Getty)As the head coach, UFC veteran Duane Ludwig has helped Team Alpha Male fighters make major strides towards title shots. What's his secret? Well, he likes to break down fighting tape in an altered state.

"It's freakin' legal. Let me address this issue," Ludwig said to MMA Mania. "When I watch film, I watch film normal how I am now. Then I watch film when I'm high on marijuana. I also watch the film again when I have Alpha Brain in my system. I watch film from three different states of consciousness just to get different looks at things. Just to see if maybe I missed a step or a nice little detail just to get different looks on things. I take this serious as hell."

Alpha Brain is a supplement that claims to help customers find "lucid dreams, mental drive, focus and mental acuity." Sure. The fine people at WebMD say marijuana affects people differently. Some of its effects include euphoria, calmness, anxiety, or paranoia. Other possible effects include distorted sense of time, magical or "random" thinking, short-term memory loss, and anxiety and depression.

Ludwig lives in California, which is governed by medical marijuana laws. Marijuana laws are loosening up around the country, so as Ludwig says, "It's freakin' legal." It's an interesting method. We'll see if it continues to work for his fighters.