Bio

I was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas on April 24, 1984 and attended Sloan-Hendrix High School. I started traditional martial arts training at eight years old, after my mom gave birth to my kid sister, Kristin Belcher. My first instructor was into cross training with Judo and Jiu Jitsu. We also boxed as he had competed in American boxing in the service. My family couldn’t afford to travel long distances for me to compete in minor competitions, but I heard of a local martial arts instructor named Max Bishop. He was really ahead of the times, promoting a monthly fight night at a sports bar. It took me over five years to convince my parents to let me train with Max. Then with Max’ training, I had my first real mixed martial arts fight at age 14, where I defeated a grown man in his late 20s by submission.

After that victory, I continued to train and fight for the next few years, while playing high school baseball and basketball. Martial Arts taught me a serious work ethic and I out-worked everybody, all the way to college. I received a small baseball scholarship at a nearby junior college in Tennessee. I put fighting on the backburner, but after two semesters, I was itching to compete again. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was making a 360-degree turnaround, and it seemed there might be a future in fighting after all. So I quit college and began my real journey.

The first place I went to was back to Arkansas to train and teach for Max Bishop and Joey Perry, a partner in two martial arts gyms. After a year of struggling to motivate training partners, I packed up and was on a quest to find the gym that could further my career the most. After spending time out west then in Atlanta, Mississippi and Louisiana, I met Ashlee Jordan (now my wife) after a fight in Gulfport, Mississippi. My next move was from Atlanta to Biloxi, Mississippi to be with Ashlee and train with Rich Clementi and Team Voodoo in Slidell, Louisiana. We got some training work done and were progressing. At that time, I was 1 to 1 as a pro, looking to make it 2 to 1 against K1 UFC veteran, Marvin Eastman.

Then in 2005, Hurricane Katrina forced us to evacuate Mississippi. Then I was training on the road for a very hard fight. I lost a 5th decision. It was a war; I fought with not just a broken, but crushed right hand. When we got back and settle at home, Rich and I decided it would be in my best career interest to drop to 185 lbs. I was fighting at 205 lbs previously. That was hard. But, it was the best thing I ever did. I also opened my own gym in Biloxi, Mississippi where I prepared myself for the most important fight ever, the UFC.

I won seven straight fights against top opponents, earning a spot on the Chuck and Bobalu UFC 62 card in 2006. I lost an exciting December 2007 fight against top contender Yushin Okami, but the UFC decided to keep me around for a second. With that second opportunity, I went after Jorge Santiago with a kick to the head and I secured my full-time position in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.