Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight Ben Saunders will return to the Octagon next Sunday night (Jan. 15). His opponent will be The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 11 winner Court McGee. They will do battle inside the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.
Early in his mixed martial arts (MMA) career, Saunders was known for his stand-up game. For a while, “Killa B’s” background was Jeet Kune Do. Years later, Saunders has developed a reputation for having an effective guard and submission skills.
Luke Thomas recently had Saunders on his SiriusXM Rush show as a guest. “Killa B” revealed what made him decide to improve his guard:
“I knew that if I started as a striker and people take me down, I’m going to have to get a good defensive and offensive guard and jiu-jitsu game off my back. My ultimate goal was, ‘okay we’re gonna keep working on our striking, but they are going to try to take me down.’ I always felt that it was good, I felt my defense was probably the strongest.”
There was one fight above the rest that stood out to Saunders when it came to focusing on his guard. When he lost to Jon Fitch via unanimous decision, he knew he needed to rev things up off his back.
“One hundred percent after taking the Jon Fitch fight and then going that way, it was an absolute turning point in my career. Where not only do I need to excel at learning takedown defense more and wrestling, but I need to get more aggressive and more offensive off my back.”
“Killa B” is no stranger to the head honcho of 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu, Eddie Bravo. Saunders has been doing training camps with the highly regarded jiu-jitsu specialist. As a result, Saunders has added more submissions to his game than ever before.
“Eddie Bravo’s system just worked so well into what I already had as my bases and my go-to that it was kind of a no-brainer. When it started working for me and I started working his system and then actually going out and training with him, it just brought things to a whole new level. There’s submissions that I have in my arsenal that have never been seen before, let alone the UFC.”
