Travis Wiuff has made the long, lonely walk to the mixed martial arts cage in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Brazil and United Arab Emirates.

He has slugged it out in the center of a horse barn on the fairgrounds of his hometown in Rochester, Minn., and traveled to such vaguely recognizable haunts as Tunica, Mississippi, Thackerville, Oklahoma and Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Not many weeks ago, an older gentleman struck up a conversation with Wiuff (pronounced “view”) and asked where his next plane would land. Lewiston, Maine, he told the man.

“And he knew immediately it was where Muhammad Ali fought Sonny Liston. They definitely remember,” Wiuff said. “I’m anxious to get in there and fight, but mostly I’m excited to be fighting in Lewiston, Maine, because of that.”

You may find combatants with more frequent-flyer miles than Wiuff, if you search hard enough. Unearthing one with more sanctioned (and unsanctioned) experience in the cage, however, is unlikely.

Wiuff, who turned 35 less than a week ago, encounters his 85th professional fight Thursday night when he locks up with Ryan Martinez —a 30-year-old from Colorado and a relative rookie of 10 bouts — as part of the Bellator Fighting Championships event at Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

The heavyweight scrap between Wiuff (68-16) and Martinez (8-2) is the third of four scheduled fights on the live, national broadcast at 10 p.m. on Spike TV.

Bellator has provided a breath of life in the latter stages of Wiuff’s career. He reached the final of the promotion’s light heavyweight tournament in August 2012 before losing via knockout to Attila Vegh at 25 seconds.

After a decision loss in Abi Dhabi for an independent promotion in November, now it’s back to the grind in the heavyweight bracket.

“It’s a struggle, but I know it’s all in my hands if I can keep winning,” Wiuff said. “If I do well in Bellator, the big paydays are out there.”

The fighter known as “Diesel” won two small-college national championships at Rochester Community and Technical College in the late 1990s.

He then advanced to Minnesota State University at Mankato, competing there but never feeling a complete connection with his major of law enforcement. When his wrestling eligibility ended, Wiuff dropped out.

A chance meeting with a local gym owner who competed with the then-upstart Ultimatre Fighting Championship led Wiuff to the octagon. Or in his case, more of a three-ring circus.

Wiuff would polish off his scheduled opponent on a given night. Then he would make eye contact with the opportunistic promoter, who often arched his index finger toward somebody from the crowd.

Think of a scene from any movie you’ve ever watched about an underground fight club, only this was in plain, public view. One of the paying, street-clothed, perhaps even inebriated customers saw the hulking, tattooed professional and reasoned that challenging him would make a great story for posterity.

“I would do that three or four times a night,” Wiuff said, explaining his exorbitant number of fights.

While some of those exhibition results surely slipped through the cracks, others were registered. A glance at Wiuff’s official record reveals at least two instances of multiple fights on the same night.

Such has been the life of an independent lifer in the sport. With the exception of two brief contracts with UFC and his current run with Bellator, Wiuff has spent 12 years traveling to wherever there is a cage and a check awaiting.

“I feel really good,” said Wiuff, even as he acknowledged sustaining numerous concussions and breaking every bone in both hands at least once. “Physically I feel like I could do this a lot longer.”

Putting away Martinez in the Bellator tournament would be a springboard to those plans.

Wiuff’s scouting report says that will be easier said than done.

“He comes from a wrestling background also. What I’m seeing on tape is that he doesn’t want to use his wrestling a lot. He’s more of a stand-up guy,” Wiuff said. “He’s also a southpaw, which creates some problems. Fighting is all about styles and how they clash, and this guy’s style makes him a very tough opponent for me.”

Even with all the experience he has banked, Wiuff spends three to four hours in training almost every day.

He splits that time between cardiovascular workouts in the morning and a rotation of boxing, wrestling and jiu-jitsu at night.

“It’s not as bad as what people think. Nothing too extreme. A lot of it depends on my opponent,” he said. “I’m definitely ready to fight. I’m sick of training. Whenever I get sick of going to the gym, I know I’m ready.”

Ready to wake up the echoes at a historic hockey arena in Lewiston, Maine, that is.

“I consider myself kind of a boxing historian, and that’s going to be one of the biggest highlights of my career to fight in the same building where Muhammad Ali did,” Wiuff said.

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