Ben Saunders Is Feeling A Lot Better

November 29, 2007

One has to wonder how last night’s quarter-final matchup on The Ultimate Fighter 6 between Tommy Speer and Ben Saunders would have turned out had Saunders not been so sick. Such is the life of a fighter – especially one on TUF. Come hell or high water, if you are scheduled to fight you will, in fact, have to fight.

That said, the Orlando native ALMOST pulled a Michael Jordan on last night’s episode (remember when MJ was sick with the flu yet he still torched the Utah Jazz in Game 5 of the 1997 finals). It looked as though Speer was going to submit to an armbar applied by Saunders early in round one but, alas, “Farmboy” Speer fought through the pain and proceeded to beat Saunders down for the duration of their battle.

If you’re like me and thought Saunders was going to, at least, make it to the finals, don’t worry, this isn’t the last time we’ll be seeing him in a UFC octagon. Fiveouncesofpain.com’s Adam Morgan is reporting that Saunders and fellow TUF cast member, Dan Barrera, will fight for a second time on the 12/8 TUF Finale (the two fought in the first round of TUF 6 with Saunders coming out victorious). Expect more fireworks from those two.

I spoke to Saunders about his illness before the bout, the actual fight itself and Matt Serra’s devastating injury. Take a listen below.


Ben Saunders – 11/29/07

  1. 16 Responses to “Ben Saunders Is Feeling A Lot Better”

  2. What a joke! dude – he complained that he was sick – please. Even saying that BS about not wanting to say he was sick – that was his way of saying he lost because he was sick.

    Regardless – he would have lost.

    By ben saunders sucks on Nov 29, 2007

  3. A valid point indeed. Who knows what would have happened but you are right it always comes off bad when one gives excuses.

    By Ariel Helwani on Nov 30, 2007

  4. Excuse!?!?!? To: ben saunders sucks – You suck!! You probably couldn’t make it in the octagon for 1 minute if you were in PERFECT healh. He is simply giving the REASON he didn’t perform his best…not an excuse for why he lost. Even though he was sick, he still had Speers in 2 deep submissions. He just didn’t have the strength – due to illness – to finish them. Had he not been sick (or even slighlty less sick than he was), that fight would have been over in the 1st 2 minutes. Finally, Speers is definately a good fighter, however he had to win a decision over someone with the flu. He should have been able to knock Ben out with Ben in that condition and he couldn’t even do that. We’ll see what happens next week, but I bet Tommy doesn’t make it to the finals. I’m also willing to bet the Saunders/Bererra fight on the finale may be better than the fight of the 2 finalists!!

    By Ben Saunders Doesn't Suck! on Nov 30, 2007

  5. Love the passion.

    Question: Why does everyone refer to Tommy Speer as Tommy SpeerS? Everyone seems to be calling him that nowadays but the TUF site clearly has him down as Speer:

    http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=Tuf.Speer

    I have a feeling Speer is going to be the fighter that backs out of the semis due to injury.

    By Ariel Helwani on Nov 30, 2007

  6. Thanks Ariel! I think I’m MMA’s biggest female fan!!!
    I’ve seen Tommy’s name written both ways so much that I just took a guess as to which is the correct spelling. My bad….
    I forgot about the promo for the next episode about a fighter pulling out. You are probably right. That cut still looked pretty bad after the Saunders fight. Any thoughts about who you think will fill in?

    By Ben Saunders Doesn't Suck! on Nov 30, 2007

  7. Well, according to MMAJunkie.com it’s going to be…

    Actually, in case anyone doesn’t want to know – read here:

    http://mmajunkie.com/2007/11/30/the-ultimate-fighter-semifinalist-replacement-revealed/

    We shall see on Wednesday.

    Thanks for your support on the site…we love female MMA fans!

    By Ariel Helwani on Nov 30, 2007

  8. You got it!! This site is great. I’m such a fan that I’d probably start training to become a fighter myself….if I didn’t weigh 105 lbs. LOL!! There’s probably no “barely existent” weight class.

    By Ben Saunders Doesn't Suck! on Nov 30, 2007

  9. If you are really serious and gain a few pounds (of muscle of course) you could definitely compete – 105 isn’t that far off.

    By Ariel Helwani on Nov 30, 2007

  10. Really? I was an NCAA division I track athlete, so I can put on muscle pretty easily….How much do I need to gain? (Thanks in advance for your info)

    By Ben Saunders Doesn't Suck! on Nov 30, 2007

  11. I would say if you were somewhere between 125-135 you would be at an ideal weight. I know easier said than done but go for it! You can be our first sponsored fighter.

    By Ariel Helwani on Nov 30, 2007

  12. Thanks again!! I’m going to seriously look into it. I live in Miami….do you know of any good gyms down here where I could start training? I know ATT has one in Miami Beach.

    By Ben Saunders Doesn't Suck! on Nov 30, 2007

  13. I’m not so familiar with that area but maybe these guys can help:

    http://www.fightergirls.com/

    They have some schools listed…

    By Ariel Helwani on Nov 30, 2007

  14. Awesome!!!! Thanks:-)

    By Ben Saunders Doesn't Suck! on Nov 30, 2007

  15. Thanks for sharing

    By Doodee on Feb 1, 2008

  16. I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links:

    By CesMusUsase on Feb 9, 2008

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