The man with the ropes tattooed on his fists is known as Alessio 'Legionarius' Sakara for a reason. The ink is there - permanently - for good cause. History courses through his mind, body and spirit within the The Eternal City as the Roman poet Tibullus so aptly named the great empire in the 1st century BC.

Historical monuments, details from the Punic wars between Rome and Carthage - modern day Tunisia - some of the largest wars ever seen, are fresh in the mind of the learned combatant Sakara. His city, his return to a spiritual fighting home.

Talking with the martial artist, Sakara genuinely feels himself to be a modern embodiment carrying the spirit of the fighting men of the Roman Empire. He not only feels it, he senses it, he knows it is in his DNA, and that is why he runs around the Coliseum in Rome, training in the masterful shadow of the arena in which fighters met glory, and sometimes death, in the same breath.

On Saturday night, as Bellator MMA makes its bow in Rome, Sakara will put everything he has on the line and fight there for the first time in 15 years, and the first time in a leading MMA fight league.