Rafael Carvalho seeks the kind of validation that only comes with time.
The once-beaten Brazilian will defend the Bellator MMA middleweight championship against American Top Team mainstay Alessio Sakara in the Bellator 190 headliner on Saturday at the Nelson Mandela Forum in Florence, Italy. There, Carvalho can become the second fighter -- Alexander Shlemenko was the first -- to successfully defend the promotion’s 185-pound title on three different occasions.
Sakara faces an uphill climb. The well-traveled “Legionarius” has piled up the miles during a career that stretches back more than 15 years and covers more than 30 professional bouts.