Ben Saunders

From CageWiki

1 Profile
2 Early MMA Career
3 The Ultimate Fighter
4 UFC Career
5 Mixed martial arts record
6 Gallery
7 External links

Profile

Ben "Killa B" Saunders (born April 13, 1983) is an American professional mixed martial artist who currently trains out of American Top Team.

He stands 6 ft. 3 in. tall and fights in the welterweight division.

He was a quarter finalist on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra and currently fights as a welterweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early MMA Career

Ben Saunders made his professional mixed martial arts debut against future UFC veteran Crafton Wallace for the Absolute Fighting Championships on May 1, 2004. The bout ended in a draw after two rounds.

Saunders followed that draw up with another draw before hitting the win column with a triangle choke victory over Reggie Pena, once again under the AFC banner.

A KO over Rick Delvecchio and TKO over TUF 2 drop out Kenny Stevens followed in 2006.

The Ultimate Fighter

After a February 2007 submission win over Charles Blanchard at a Combat Fighting Championships event, Saunders earned a call up to the sixth installment of the popular MMA reality TV show, The Ultimate Fighter.

The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra featured 16 welterweight contestants vying for a six figure UFC contract. The 16 members would be separated into two teams, which would be coached by the UFC welterweight champion, at the time, Matt Serra and former UFC welterweight champion, Matt Hughes.

Saunders was selected for Team Serra and in episode 6 faced off against Dan Barrera for a spot in the quarter finals. In a back and forth battle, Saunders earned the semi controversial majority decision after two rounds to move on in the competitiion.

In episode 11, Saunders faced off against Tommy Speer in the quarter finals. Before the bout, Saunders came down with some severe flu-type symptons that hindered his cardio in the bout. Early on in the fight, Saunders caught Speer in a deep armbar that could very easily have put an end to the fight. Somehow Speer powered out of it and continued to beat on the fatiguing Saunders for the rest of the fight.

Saunders returned at The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale and faced off against the man he beat in the round of 16, Dan Barrera. In a sloppy affair that didn't live up to the pace of excitement of the first fight, Saunders prevailed over his opponent by a clear cut unanimous decision.

UFC Career

Eight months after his TUF 6 Finale bout with Barrera, Saunders returned to UFC competition at UFC 87. He faced UFC virgin, Ryan Thomas on the unaired preliminary card. Saunders impressed with a dominant performance that ended with armbar submission victory in the second round, to push his record to 6-0-2.

In December of 2008, Saunders faced off against Brandon Wolff at the UFC: Fight for the Troops event. Originally meant to be un-televised, Saunders lay out such a fierce beating on Wolff that it made it to the aired card. Saunders punished Wolff with repeated knees from the muay thai clinch that had the commentators drawing comparisons to UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva. The bout was mercifully called off at 1.49 of round 1, with Wolff sustaining huge amounts of swelling on his forehead.

Saunders will return to UFC competition at UFC 96 in March against ground wizard, Dustin Hazelett. Hazelett pulled out of the fight due to injury and was replaced by UFC newcomer Ryan Madigan. Saunders himself pulled out of the bout as well due to a foot injury.

Saunders then faced TUF 1's Mike Swick at UFC 99, and was defeated by Swick by TKO in the second round. It was his first loss in the UFC.