Top middleweight Alan Belcher fighting for career, and eyesight
For middleweight mixed martial artist Alan Belcher, everything seemed to be going perfectly.
After an inauspicious debut run for the Ultimate Fighting Championships, which saw him go 3-3, since September 2008, his career took off. He faced off against five tough competitors in a row, and put up
an impressive record: one decision victory, two submission victories, one knockout and one split decision loss, with a most recent win over former contender Patrick Cote at UFC 113 in May.
Suddenly he was in the title mix, and the 26-year-old found himself scheduled to fight Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu phenom Demian Maia in the headlining bout (a first for Belcher) at Ultimate Fight Night 22 on
15 September.
That’s when things started going wrong. At first it was announced on 1 August that he was pulling out of the fight due to eye trouble. And it very quickly became clear that Belcher, who first noticed the
trouble when he woke up blind in one eye one morning, not only had missed one fight, but might never fight again. Or, even worse, see again.
“My injury came at the worst time,” said Belcher in an interview with mmajunkie.com. The problem? A detached retina, which has required surgery twice thus far to attempt to repair it. Belcher goes for
a crucial check-up on Wednesday, where he may learn more about his future.
Belcher said he is prone to retina detachments. After the first surgery his retina detached again.
"It's not hereditary, but the doctors say I may be prone (to additional detachments) because my retina is thin," he said. "They can be caused from blows to the head or other trauma that causes tears in
the retina that ultimately make them detach. The second time was just from the healing process. The scar tissue caused more tears, and it detached again.”
In other words, Belcher’s fighting career, which has seen him go 16-6 with two knockout losses, not only may have caused the initial injury, but also made it harder to heal. And that makes things scary
for the future.
"The biggest problem we're looking at is if my eyesight doesn't get better, and if my other retina detaches, then I'll basically be blind in both eyes instead of just one," he said. "That's the main thing
I'm trying to do – is getting my eyesight better in my right eye where I'd be able to depend on my right if I lost my left."
With how serious his situation is, Belcher also revealed to MMAjunkie.com he will not be returning to the cage for quite some time. At best he can’t do any full contact sparring for six months (and perhaps
never), and he can’t even do so much as hit the pads for several months.
The news has shaken up the title picture at the top of the division. After his submission victory over Cote, which saw him spectacularly lift Cote up and drop him face first on the mat before choking him
out, he called out champion Anderson Silva, and the possibility of Belcher fighting for the belt seemed a distinct possibility. Now the question will be if he returns, what his place in the division will be. Belcher has high hopes.
"This sport is really fan-driven," he said. "So if the fans speak up, and let (UFC president) Dana White and the UFC know that they really want to see me fight a top guy and get to the title, I think I'll
be able to start right where I left off.”
He may be heartened by the example of the man he beat, Cote, who after a prolonged absence was given a high-profile fight with Belcher. But that’s all in the future. For now, Belcher has other things in
mind.
“I'm taking it one day at a time,” he said.
Tags: