Tag: Ben Saunders

Bellator 63 Recap: Cleveland Chokes, Cavemen Rejoice

Karl Amoussou vs. Chris Lozano, courtesy of IronForgesIron.com

As dangerous as Cleveland can be as a city, it has struggled to field decent sports teams and produce champions (not to mention keeping them). Last night at Bellator 63, which gave viewers the Quarterfinal round of this season’s welterweight tournament, “The Cleveland Assassin” Chris Lozano looked to break the cycle and make a run at Bellator’s welterweight title. If you’ve been paying any attention, you already know what to expect.

Perhaps no one in MMA other than Chael Sonnen embraces his alter-ego more than Lozano’s opponent, “Psycho” Karl Amoussou, who had Lozano uncharacteristically angered with his psycho routine before the fight. While that didn’t translate to either man swinging for the fences at the bell, it did lead to an early finish for the French judoka. After Amoussou cut Lozano with a head kick, “The Cleveland Assassin” took Amoussou down and landed in his guard, which would be Lozano’s only offense for the fight. From there, Amoussou swept Lozano, mounted him and took his back to sink in the rear-naked choke. Karl Amoussou improves to 14-4-2 in his welterweight debut.


Karl Amoussou vs. Chris Lozano, courtesy of IronForgesIron.com

As dangerous as Cleveland can be as a city, it has struggled to field decent sports teams and produce champions (not to mention keeping them). Last night at Bellator 63, which gave viewers the Quarterfinal round of this season’s welterweight tournament, “The Cleveland Assassin” Chris Lozano looked to break the cycle and make a run at Bellator’s welterweight title. If you’ve been paying any attention, you already know what to expect.

Perhaps no one in MMA other than Chael Sonnen embraces his alter-ego more than Lozano’s opponent, “Psycho” Karl Amoussou, who had Lozano uncharacteristically angered with his psycho routine before the fight. While that didn’t translate to either man swinging for the fences at the bell, it did lead to an early finish for the French judoka. After Amoussou cut Lozano with a head kick, ”The Cleveland Assassin” took Amoussou down and landed in his guard, which would be Lozano’s only offense for the fight. From there, Amoussou swept Lozano, mounted him and took his back to sink in the rear-naked choke. Karl Amoussou improves to 14-4-2 in his welterweight debut.

In a rare miss for the promotion, the evening’s co-main event saw Bryan Baker take home a split decision over Carlos Alexandre Pereira. Perhaps due to this fight being Baker’s first at welterweight, perhaps due to both fighters respecting each other’s striking, or more than likely due to some combination of the two, neither fighter seemed eager to exchange. Despite the lack of overall action in the fight, Baker landed more takedowns and successfully used his kicks to keep Pereira outside, which was enough to earn him the victory. Hopefully Baker works out his cut to welterweight, as his performance from last night won’t be enough for the next round of the tournament.

It’s likely that it will take you longer to read our description of Jordan Smith vs. David Rickels than it will to actually watch the fight. Both men came out swinging, with David Rickels landing pretty much everything he threw. The stoppage came only twenty two seconds into the fight, putting ”The Caveman” at a perfect 10-0 in his MMA career.

One final note, UFC veteran Ben Saunders put in a dominant performance against Raul Amaya. Save for a brief period in the third round when Amaya managed to take Saunders’ back, Raul Amaya had zero answers for anything “Killa B” attempted. Saunders was clearly the better striker, and constantly attempted submissions once the fight hit the mats. Saunders is now 5-1 since being released from the UFC, and is an early favorite to win this season’s welterweight tournament.

Full Results:

Main Card:

Karl Amoussou def. Chris Lozano via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 2:05 of Round 1
Bryan Baker def. Carlos Alexandre Pereira via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
David Rickels def. Jordan Smith via TKO (Punches) at 0:22 of Round 1
Ben Saunders def. Raul Amaya via Unanimous Decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)

Preliminary Card

Ryan Quinn def. Marc Stevens via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Saul Almeida vs. Matt Bessette def. Saul Almeida via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Brandon Fleming def. Pete Rogers via Submission (Peruvian Necktie) at 3:39 of Round 1
Dan Cramer def. Jeff Nader via Split Decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
Andrey Koreshkov def. Tiawan Howard via Knockout (Uppercut and Punches) at 1:26 of Round 1
Munah Holland def. Marianna Kheyfets via Knockout (Punch) at 4:45 of Round 2

Ben ‘Killa B’ Saunders: From Jeet Kune Do Beginnings to Bellator Competitor

Despite being only 28 years old, Ben Saunders is the man most traveled in the Bellator Season 6 welterweight tournament kicking off tomorrow night. He holds a professional record of 12-4-0 which includes a seven-fight stint with the UFC, where he went …

Despite being only 28 years old, Ben Saunders is the man most traveled in the Bellator Season 6 welterweight tournament kicking off tomorrow night. He holds a professional record of 12-4-0 which includes a seven-fight stint with the UFC, where he went 4-3-0. There are some guys older than him and guys with more fights, but nobody else in the tournament has fought in the UFC—the NFL of MMA.

“It always, I’d say, plays its role as far as mental confidence for sure, I’ve been in there against the best in the world,” said Saunders on having fought for the UFC in the past.

Only one other fighter scheduled to fight in the Bellator welterweight tournament had fought in the UFC before, and that was Brian Foster. However, he was pulled from the event because he was not medically cleared as reported by MMAjunkie.com. The situation Foster is in could result in his retirement and it made Saunders reflect on how lucky he is.

“Anytime you get an injury you sit back and evaluate your life and your career and what you’re going to do and what’s going to happen, it can be depressing, it can be very scary at times,” Saunders said. “When that happened to him, it definitely made me be grateful and tell myself hey man whatever the hell you might be going through or might not be happy about or whatever, shut the hell up and suck it up because you’re still able to do what you want to do,” he continued. “They told me that he got pulled out and then and there that just completely changed my mood, it changed my mentality of everything and it kind of depressed me a little bit.”

Fighters have to deal with injuries and Foster’s situation definitely made Saunders reflect. Despite the impact Foster’s situation had on him, he’ll always give 100 percent and lay it all on the line in his fights, even if it is in a tournament where you need to be healthy to move on.

“I have a certain style that I bring to the cage, a certain aggressiveness, I come to fight. I can’t be thinking what if I do this or what if I do that and that injures me for the next round,” Saunders said. “I’m going to go out on my shield, there is no tournament to me, for me there is no point to even think of anything beyond what’s in front of me.”

Saunders’ attitude is probably a reflection of his passion for the martial arts and combat sports that began at a young age.

“From a very young age, I was like seven to eight years old, my oldest brother was taking karate and he’d come home and beat the crap out of me,” Saunders recalled. “He wouldn’t even beat the crap out of me as in we’d fight, I remember one particular point in time he was like, ‘Hey stand right there I want to show you something really cool’ and then he did a spinning back kick to my gut,” Saunders continued. “My older brother is probably one of the main reasons I got in to martial arts.”

Saunders fell in love with martial arts and was particularly fond of late martial artist Bruce Lee. Lee developed Jeet Kune Do, a martial arts system and philosophy in life. Lee inspired Saunders and he feels Lee is very much responsible for the popularity mixed martial arts has received today. Saunders is one of probably a handful of mixed martial artists whose base is in Jeet Kune Do.

“When I was 14 there was actually a JKD academy that opened up and I was able to convince my parents to let me get a job at McDonald’s to pay for it myself,” Saunders said. “That was the first time I actually started getting a true training, other than that throughout my life a lot of my style is self-taught.”

Tonight, Saunders will be taking on 9-0 fighter Raul Amaya and maybe you’ll get a chance to see some Jeet Kune Do elements come out in his fight. Amaya has a lot of submission wins. and although Saunders hasn’t seen many of his fights, he isn’t taking Amaya lightly.

“The one thing I will say is he’s got a lot of heart, he’s got maybe some power in his hands even if his technique is a little sloppy and he’s got conditioning at what not because he seems to be able to wear his opponents down and catch them later on in the fights,” Saunders said. “Stylistically he seems like a brawling wrestler, the thing I need to watch out for anybody I fight is it doesn’t matter who they are, everyone’s got a punchers chance,” he continued. “I just have to go out there and do what I do best, fight my fight, don’t let him fight his fight and my hand will be raised hopefully via knockout or submission before the third.”

I’m not sure if Saunders is superstitious or not, but he did tell me that the last time he fought in Connecticut for Bellator he was on the same card as his two teammates and all three guys won. Now almost a year later and in Connecticut, he is again fighting with two teammates on the same card.

Should Saunders win, he will move in to the semifinals of the tournament. If he wins the tournament this year, Saunders will get his shot at either a rematch with Douglas Lima or a fight with current Bellator title holder Ben Askren. Askren and Lima fight next week at Bellator 64. Saunders lost to Lima in the tournament finals last season.

Saunders welcomes a potential rematch with Lima, but isn’t a huge fan of fighting teammates either.

“I’m never too fond about fighting teammates man, I mean we do what we do because we are professionals and because we respect each other,” Saunders said. “If our paths cross again, you know what it’s going to be another great fight.”

You can catch Saunders tonight at 8:00 EST on MTV2 as he tries to move on to the semifinals of the tournament. Before concluding my conversation with him, Saunders urged fans to follow him on Twitter @bensaundersMMA and check out his walk out t-shirt at bensaundersmma.com.

 

 

Leon Horne is a writer for Bleacher Report and is part of the BR MMA Interview team, Follow @Leon_Horne

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Bellator 57: Lima, Shlemenko Punch Tickets to Title Shots

(Saunders-Lima, via Zombie Prophet)

While every fight fan in North America turned to FOX to catch the UFC’s broadcast debut, then made their way to pay-per-view to witness boxing’s continued fall from legitimacy, the family members of Bellator’s fighters and people hoping to catch reruns of “Daria” headed over to MTV 2 for the conclusion of their Season 5 welterweight and middleweight tournaments.

Ben Saunders opened his match by trying to take Douglas Lima’s head off with a series of kicks, but when those failed to meet their mark the two fighters clinched and headed for the cage where they’d jockey for position and trade a few obligatory knees and punches. Thrice referee Yves Lavigne separated the pair only to see them return to the fence and grind the fight to a halt. With under a minute left, Lima caught a kick and slammed Saunders to the mat but was instantly swept and mounted. “Killa B” closed out the round in control and dropping a score of hard, short elbows on Lima’s skull. Saunders drove in for the clinch at the onset of round two, but yet another break by Lavigne gave Lima the space he needed to work. “The Phenom” slipped a Saunders right and countered with one of his own. That one punch would be enough. Saunders crumbled to the mat and Lima followed up with hammerfists until shoved away. Lima’s effort earned him the tournament championship, $100 G’s, and a shot at Welterweight Champion Ben Askren.

(Saunders-Lima, via Zombie Prophet)

While every fight fan in North America turned to FOX to catch the UFC’s broadcast debut, then made their way to pay-per-view to witness boxing’s continued fall from legitimacy, the family members of Bellator’s fighters and people hoping to catch reruns of “Daria” headed over to MTV 2 for the conclusion of their Season 5 welterweight and middleweight tournaments.

Ben Saunders opened his match by trying to take Douglas Lima’s head off with a series of kicks, but when those failed to meet their mark the two fighters clinched and headed for the cage where they’d jockey for position and trade a few obligatory knees and punches. Thrice referee Yves Lavigne separated the pair only to see them return to the fence and grind the fight to a halt. With under a minute left, Lima caught a kick and slammed Saunders to the mat but was instantly swept and mounted. “Killa B” closed out the round in control and dropping a score of hard, short elbows on Lima’s skull. Saunders drove in for the clinch at the onset of round two, but yet another break by Lavigne gave Lima the space he needed to work. “The Phenom” slipped a Saunders right and countered with one of his own. That one punch would be enough. Saunders crumbled to the mat and Lima followed up with hammerfists until shoved away. Lima’s effort earned him the tournament championship, $100 G’s, and a shot at Welterweight Champion Ben Askren.

(Shlemenko-Vianna, via Zombie Prophet)   

Vitor Vianna was game early on to throw down with Bellator’s Whirling Dervish of knockouts, Alexander Shlemenko, but he was ultimately outgunned by the Russian’s unorthodox arsenal. Though he showed a healthy respect for Shlemenko’s spinning attacks, Vianna stood his ground and, though out struck, found a home for his kicks and combinations in the first round. From there however Vianna’s caution grew to withdrawl; he failed to engage and counter Shlemenko, which allowed the Russian to pick his shots and dictate the exchanges. Shlemenko took the fight on all three score cards to secure the unanimous decision and earn his rematch against Bellator Middleweight champ Hector Lombard.

Thanks, Bellator, for proving that tournaments can be completed in a timely fashion. Thanks as well for giving your champs fights that actually mean something.

Full Results (via MMAJunkie.com):

MAIN CARD
• Douglas Lima def. Ben Saunders via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:21 – wins welterweight tournament
• Alexander Shlemenko def. Vitor Vianna via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) – wins middleweight tournament
• Roger Hollett def. John Hawk via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
• Alexandre Bezerra def. Doug Evans via submission (heel hook) – Round 1, 4:04
PRELIMINARY CARD
• Matt Van Buren def. Shawn Levesque via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:38
• Chris Horodecki vs. Mike Corey declared majority draw (29-28 Horodecki, 28-28, 28-28)
• Dave Jansen def. Ashkar Morvari via submission (rear-naked choke) Round 2, 2:47
• Denis Puric def. Chuck Mady via TKO (injury) – Round 2, 5:00
• Eric Moon def. Josh Shockley via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 0:35
• Taylor Solomon def. Mike Sledzion via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:10

Ranking MMA’s Top 10 Welterweights Outside Zuffa Umbrella

The series continues with the welterweights in this edition, as many of the top 10 were seen in recent action.With Bellator’s welterweight tournament nearing it’s end, we’ve gotten a good grasp of where the entrants stand, and how they stack up with th…

The series continues with the welterweights in this edition, as many of the top 10 were seen in recent action.

With Bellator’s welterweight tournament nearing it’s end, we’ve gotten a good grasp of where the entrants stand, and how they stack up with the international talent featured by promotions such as KSW and M-1 Global.

Where does your favorite non-Zuffa welterweight stand?

Begin Slideshow

Two for Tuesday: Saunders/Santos and Mann/Foster Bellator 53 Fight Videos

(Props to http://www.youtube.com/BFCLUV for the vids.) 

While we were all watching Frankie Edgar score possibly the biggest win of his career this past weekend, a few of you might have missed some great fights over at Bellator 53, which saw “The Arm Collector” collect yet another arm and Douglas Lima pick up a B-E-A-utiful knockout over Chris Lozano. But just in case your appetite for fights remains insatiable, we’ve searched the internet to find the welterweight semi-final match between UFC veteran Ben Saunders and Luis Santos and the featherweight tournament qualifier bout between Ronnie Mann and Kenny Foster to hold you over for a while. The sound is a little off for the later of the two, so if you’ve got a problem with it, take it up with our HR department.

-Danga 


(Props to http://www.youtube.com/BFCLUV for the vids.) 

While we were all watching Frankie Edgar score possibly the biggest win of his career this past weekend, a few of you might have missed some great fights over at Bellator 53, which saw “The Arm Collector” collect yet another arm and Douglas Lima pick up a B-E-A-utiful knockout over Chris Lozano. But just in case your appetite for fights remains insatiable, we’ve searched the internet to find the welterweight semi-final match between UFC veteran Ben Saunders and Luis Santos and the featherweight tournament qualifier bout between Ronnie Mann and Kenny Foster to hold you over for a while. The sound is a little off for the later of the two, so if you’ve got a problem with it, take it up with our HR department.

-Danga 

Bellator 53 Results: Watch Douglas Lima Punch His Ticket to Ben Saunders

No disrespect to UFC lightweight champion Frankie “The Answer” Edgar and his UFC 136 win by TKO, but if this was not the real Knockout of the Night for Saturday, October 8, 2011, then I don’t know what is.Yes, the UFC lightweight champion avenged an ea…

No disrespect to UFC lightweight champion Frankie “The Answer” Edgar and his UFC 136 win by TKO, but if this was not the real Knockout of the Night for Saturday, October 8, 2011, then I don’t know what is.

Yes, the UFC lightweight champion avenged an early-UFC-career loss to Gray “The Bully” Maynard, but the answer (no pun intended) for the question of which fight was last night’s true knockout victory of the night does not come from the UFC.

Instead, it comes from one of the finishers on the Bellator Fighting Championships 53 card—specifically an underrated Brazilian prospect named Douglas Lima.

They don’t call Lima “The Phenom” because Bellator is trying to scoop up Vitor Belfort; they call Lima “The Phenom” because of the sensationally-ridiculous manner in which he puts people away.

Don’t believe it?

Watch this video of Lima’s finish of “The Cleveland Assassin” Chris Lozano, and try and tell me otherwise.

Just another note: he faces Ben Saunders in the Bellator welterweight finals this season…so tell me, are we still supposed to be writing Saunders off as the winner of the tourney, or can we give some credit where it’s due to a clear welterweight prospect that the world’s largest MMA organization would be foolish to overlook?

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com