FanHouse Joe Silva

Even though he had made mixed martial arts his life, he'd still hear the haters. He'd wake up in the morning to train, eaten healthy, sworn off alcohol, avoided relationships, traveled to events to soak up knowledge and listened to the people who'd already made it.

Slowly, he evolved into Roger Huerta, the fighter. Roger Huerta the person almost no longer existed. Everything was about fighting. Everything. He would tell his trainer Dave Menne, "Here's my life, take it," and then do whatever his coach told him to get better.

It didn't matter. The people who loved him still love him, and the ones who hated him...

DALLAS -- In the early stages of planning for UFC 103, Dana White and matchmaker Joe Silva envisioned a Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson main event, but after hearing immediate backlash from fans who had little interest in a rematch so soon, an audible was called and the returning Vitor Belfort took Henderson's place.

At 31 years old, Belfort is no longer the young stud that captivated audiences with his firepower and earned the nickname "The Phenom," but a matured fighter who is looking to prove that he's harnessed all of his considerable gifts and found the consistency that's eluded him at times.

So how will Belfort-Franklin go down? Let's take a closer look at the matchup.

Over the weekend, Bloody Elbow noticed that Pat Miletich's profile was put back up on UFC.com. This led to speculation that the 41-year-old MMA veteran had re-signed with the UFC. Remember, prior to UFC 101 Miletich told FanHouse that he hoped to bury his long-standing grudge with UFC president Dana White.

On Monday, Miletich told FanHouse that he had not signed a new contract with the UFC "yet," but seemed very open to the idea of making his return to the Octagon in the near future. Of course, he also said the hatchet had been buried between both sides.

PHILADELPHIA -- From the beginning, he's been the underdog. You want to talk about taking the hard road? In his first professional fight, Forrest Griffin didn't face a fellow rookie. He didn't even compete against a hot prospect. The first time he stepped into a cage, Griffin fought Dan "the Beast" Severn, an ex-UFC tournament champion in his 58th career fight.

Most fighters don't have 58 fights in their entire career, so Griffin was literally fighting a guy with two careers worth of experience on him. Proposed bouts with such an experience disparity would not even be sanctioned today. Though he lost, he showed the toughness that would become his trademark, taking Severn to a decision. So Griffin isn't exactly intimidated at the prospect of facing UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, a winner of 10 straight who is moving up to 205 pounds to face Griffin in a non-title bout at UFC 101.

"There's the old saying, 'If you're going to be stupid, you better be tough,'" he said. "Well, I've been a lot of both. I'm trying to be maybe a little smart and tough. We'll see how that works out for me."

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Most MMA fighters like to take a few months off in between fights, but Krzysztof Soszynski is not like most MMA fighters.

Soszynski, who beat Brian Stann at UFC 97 on April 18, is getting ready to return to the Octagon to fight Andre Gusmao at UFC 98 on May 23. In an interview with FanHouse, Soszynski said he'll be ready to fight -- and that he's just happy to get to fight in the UFC. The full interview is below.

UFC President Dana White says Chuck Liddell has only turned down one opponent in his career: Matt Lindland.

But that's not something Lindland should brag about. According to White, when Liddell was approached a few years ago about fighting Lindland, he said he didn't want to do it because he didn't see Lindland as a challenging opponent.

"Chuck never turns down fights," White said in our FanHouse live chat, when asked if Liddell declined to fight Lyoto Machida. "From the day we bought this company, and before, he doesn't turn down fights, ever."

But then White paused and spoke for a minute to Joe Silva, the UFC's matchmaker. White then added, "Although Joe Silva did say he turned down a fight against Matt Lindland because he thought it was too easy. Lindland was fighting at 185 at the time. Chuck was like, 'That guy is small and all he does is wrestle. No way. I want somebody harder.' As Joe Silva said, Chuck used to fight a murderer's row. He became a star because he fought nothing but stars all along."

Lindland, who fought in the UFC from 2000 to 2005, has been a ocal critic of the promotion since he left, so the UFC has plenty of incentive to spread stories that make him look bad. Like the story of how Chuck Liddell wouldn't fight him, because he wanted someone tougher.