Ben Saunders first came on to the national MMA scene when he appeared on the sixth season of The Ultimate Fighter. Though he lost in the quarterfinals on in the show, he has gone on to become the most successful member of the season. Each time out in the octagon, he appears to get more comfortable, and in his last time out, he roughed up Brandon Wolff in a devastating first-round TKO win.
On June 13, Saunders takes a step up in competition level when he takes on welterweight contender Mike Swick at UFC 99.
Saunders recently took a few minutes to speak to FanHouse about the biggest fight in his career, whether he considers Swick a top 10 caliber fighter, and where he hopes to go from here.
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Ben Saunders: 'I'm Looking to Make It a Dominating Win' over Mike Swick
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Even in Losing to Hughes, Matt Serra Proves He's No Fluke
First thing's first. Matt Serra was not robbed at UFC 98. Neither though, did he lose. After two years of back and forth, after injuries delayed their original fight, and after 15 minutes in the octagon, the two Matts were fit to be tied, and their match should have been ruled a draw.The judges, however, saw things differently. After three rounds, they gave Matt Hughes a 29-28 across-the-board win. They no doubt gave Serra the first round, and Hughes the final two.
The fight was close enough that neither fighter was quite sure whose name ring announcer Bruce Buffer would call.
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UFC 98 Morning After: How Will Anyone Beat Lyoto Machida?
The light heavyweight division is the most talented weight class in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but after watching Lyoto Machida dominate Rashad Evans for the title Saturday night at UFC 98, I'm having a very hard time seeing how anyone is going to beat him any time soon.That might sound like a crazy thing to say, because upsets happen all the time in mixed martial arts, and the light heavyweight title has changed hands four times in the last two years. But the fundamental way to win a fight is to hurt your opponent without getting hurt yourself, and there's no one better at that than Machida.
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Hughes-Serra Grudge Match Delivers
Seldom does a grudge match live up to the hype. But Matt Hughes and Matt Serra lived up to their promises of war, grinding out a 15-minute battle which the judges scored as a unanimous decision win for Hughes.
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UFC 98 Live Blog: Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra in Co-Main Event
This is the live blog for the UFC 98 grudge match between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra, where we'll have live, round-by-round updates of all the action. The fight should begin around 11:30 PM ET, and the live blog begins below.
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UFC 98: Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra
Unlike the UFC 98 main event title match, in which anything could happen and we wouldn't really be surprised, the co-main event between longtime rivals Matt Hughes and Matt Serra has a certain level of predictability to it. Both Hughes and Serra, after all, have been fighting for years and employing their own formulas to success.
What adds the sizzle to this one is the war of words that will finally see a winner emerge. So how will it go down? Let's take a look.
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UFC 98 Weigh-In Results: Everyone Makes Weight, Fans Boo Evans
All 22 fighters stepped on the scales Friday afternoon and made weight for Saturday night's UFC 98, including heavyweight champion Rashad Evans and challenger Lyoto Machida. In something of a surprise, there was noticeable booing of the champion from the fans in Las Vegas. It might be a pro-Machida crowd on Saturday night at the MGM Grand.Matt Serra, who will fight Matt Hughes in the co-main event, weighed in at 171, within the one-pound allowance of the welterweight limit. There had been rumors that Serra was having trouble making weight, but he made it. Hughes weighed in at 170.
Full results for Friday's UFC 98 weigh-ins are below.
More Coverage: Watch UFC 98 Weigh-In Video
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Jim Rome Plays Up Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra Rivalry on ESPN
ESPN is increasingly paying attention to mixed martial arts, but I still get the sense sometimes that the on-air talent views MMA more as something they have to cover to attract young male viewers than a sport they're legitimately interested in. The exception to that, however, is Jim Rome, who has a real passion for MMA and speaks about it often, as he did Thursday in discussing Saturday night's fight between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra at UFC 98.
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UFC to Offer Streaming Behind-the-Scenes Cameras During UFC 98
The UFC will be giving fans a whole new view of what goes on during a pay-per-view event with a unique, behind-the-scenes look at Saturday night's UFC 98.
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MMA Podcast on UFC 98, Bobby Lashley, Strikeforce, Bellator and More
We're back this week with another FanHouse MMA podcast, as Ariel Helwani and I discuss all the issues of the day in mixed martial arts.On this week's installment of the podcast, Ariel and I started out talking about the busy Friday night in MMA, with Bellator Fighting Championships having a show in Chicago, former WWE star Bobby Lashley improving his MMA record to 3-0 and Strikeforce debuting its Challengers Series on Showtime. We then moved on to UFC 98, with heavy emphasis on Lyoto Machida vs. Rashad Evans and Matt Serra vs. Matt Hughes.
Listen below to the best hour of MMA talk you'll hear all day.
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