Nick King of MMASucka had a chance to catch up with Ben “Killa B” Saunders prior to his Bellator fight with Douglas Lima this Saturday evening. Saunders gives details on his “Killa B” guard, his upcoming fight against Lima, his plans for the future and of course Bruce Lee.
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – How are you doing Ben?
Ben Saunders – I’m doing good bro. Trained my ass off, just finishing off my packing and about to take my plane flight to Canada tomorrow and make this happen and get this fight said and done with.
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – Glad to see Bellator coming across the border to Canada.
Ben Saunders – Absolutely, Canada is probably the biggest hotspot for MMA. The fans out there are huge and supportive of the sport. I’m really looking forward to fighting live in front of them
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – On Twitter you said if you get to 12,000 followers you’ve promised to do what this Saturday?
Ben Saunders – A Tiger Uppercut man. Complimentary of my head instructor, Sagat.
FOLLOW BEN SAUNDERS ON TWITTER @bensaundersmma
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – If we hit 10,000 can we get a Tiger Knee
Ben Saunders – Absolutely, that’ll probably be inevitable. I’d be happy to give that a shot and just blitz it through him.
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – You’re on a four fight win streak, if you win this Saturday at Bellator 57 you will get a shot at Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren. What are your thoughts on Askren?
Ben Saunders – He’s a very talented and skilled opponent. He’s probably the best-credentialed wrestler in MMA in my opinion. He’s like a two time Olympian or something like that. He’s definitely got the wrestling and that’s been my blue print and my kryptonite if you will, you know dealing with high-class wrestlers. If that fight comes up I’ll be excited to show how much I’ve upped my game and I’ve worked on my weaknesses and test myself against one of the best.
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – Prior to that, you will be taking on Douglas Lima who has a strong ground game like yourself. How do you see this fight going down?
Ben Saunders – I think it’s probably going to go down everywhere. There’s no telling what can happen, but I think it’s going to start on the feet. Everyone knows I am a big fan of that and I’m definitely going to be doing my best to finish the fight on the feet. If it happens to go to the ground or he takes it to the ground, I’m trying to win by any means necessary. If he takes me down I’m going to be looking for the submission. It’d be huge to get a submission on someone of his level. It’d be huge to get a knockout of someone of his level. It’s an honor to fight him; he’s one of my teammates. We haven’t really trained together, we just know of each other. We got to meet through Bellator, he’s out in Atlanta and I’m in Florida. Two of the best in the world are going to be throwing down and the fans are definitely going to get what they’re looking for. I can’t wait.
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – It sounds like you don’t care where this fight goes.
Ben Saunders – Bring it! I’m down for whatever it is. I’m willing to scrap wherever it takes place. I’m trying to finish; I’m trying to fight.
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – If the UFC were to call prior to a Bellator title shot, what would your answer be?
Ben Saunders – Show me the money! Nah, to be honest, I’m under contract to Bellator so it doesn’t really matter. They won’t be calling, they won’t be writing. They’ll probably say congratulations and good luck and all of that. I’ve got no ill will towards them and they’ve got none towards me. It’s just business, I don’t think we have an issue with each other at all. I think they’re happy for the success in my career and so am I. I’m with Bellator and I’m looking to do big things while with Bellator. For everyone that doesn’t know Viacom just bought Bellator and they’re working on some stuff for their UK Broadcasting, so they’ve got the ball rolling and this is going to blow the hell up. It’s like a tsunami coming; I’m just riding the wave.
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – You showed off a “Killa B” guard in your last fight against Luis Santos, explain it.
Ben Saunders – It’s just what I do. I’ve never come up with a name for it; it’s just a style and a system that I’ve created. It works very well for me and I’ve created a system where I can utilize it as a go to and as a counter. I’ve been working my jiu jitsu game like crazy and I’ve been trying to up every aspect. Sweep, submit or stand back up, those are my three options and I just keep trying to add to the moves to accomplish one of those three tasks. The fact that Eddie Bravo mentioned it and also saw the creativity and skill that I put into that control and that technique was huge. I’m a big Eddie Bravo follower and a fan; I love the rubber guard, as in the style and the system he came up with.
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – Have you seen any good movies lately?
Ben Saunders – The last one I saw in theatres was that robot movie with Wolverine. It was pretty good. It was like a rock em sock em, virtual thing using robots to fight each other. It was pretty good, I didn’t even realize it was a Disney flick and it was PG-13. (REAL STEEL)
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – What’s in your ipod?
Ben Saunders – Recently I’ve been listening to the new Kanye (West) and Jay-Z and I went a little old school been jamming to Lil Wayne (The Carter II), that album is the fucking bomb. That’s old school for me, that’s when I was like grinding shitty jobs. There’s a time and a place for every kind of emotion and every kind of music.
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – Have you heard of Round 5 Collectables? Have you seen their Bruce Lee line?
Ben Saunders – I might have saw something, I think someone posted something on one of my Facebooks. Dude, I am all for it man. They do good work at Round 5 and for me, I’m just happy that Bruce Lee is getting the recognition that he deserves. That was one of my to do lists, was when you make it in the sport you better let it be known how you got there, because everyone was getting lost in the mix of the Royce Gracie’s and the Ken Shamrock’s. Martial Arts wouldn’t have even been in the United States if it weren’t for Bruce Lee. The whole 70’s and 80’s craze of Karate and Tae Kwan Do would have never even occurred if it wasn’t for him, he broke the boundaries. One of the first to ever teach foreigners, he was one of the first to even come up with idea of questioning traditional martial arts and whether there was a better way or better techniques or tactics. Things should be different depending on your skill level, your size, your strength, your speed, your agility and everyone’s crazy, the guy was a genius. One of the biggest arguments that has been off or on was how would Bruce Lee do in the UFC and I think that question is irrelevant because he would be so old now. If you say in his prime, then he would destroy everybody because nobody knew how to be a mixed martial artist but him back then. If you want to say how he would do in his prime now, then he may not do as well because everyone has what he has accomplished and made so mainstream. They’ve had the knowledge to see the Royce Gracie’s, the Ken Shamrock’s and wake the fuck up and see what a real fight is. I’d guarantee to say this, he’d be top 3 to top 5 in the world of an MMA coach, there’s no doubt about that. I’d bet that motherfucker could breed champions like crazy because he just had the knowledge and the intelligence to get through to his students.
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – How many people would like to join his club?
Ben Saunders – Yeah, then I would be his goon where he’d be like, “Yo we gotta weed out all the schmucks!” Fucking sick me on them.
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – You’ve told us a lot about the fight, tell your fans something that they may not know.
Ben Saunders – I am a fraternal twin. I have a brother and we are actually so fraternal, more than anything because we actually had two different birthdays. He was born on April 12 at 11:58pm and I was born on April 13 at 12:02am. That’s probably that no one ever realizes, that there is possibly two of me running around. We are so fraternal as I said that we have two different birthdays, which is pretty much unheard of. We are absolutely nothing alike, he is extremely passive, he doesn’t like fighting and I am obviously the opposite. The other thing is that I almost didn’t survive; he was apparently choking me with his umbilical cord while I was still inside. When I came out I came out blue and I almost didn’t survived to be here today. Maybe he was a fighter and became passive because he’s dealing with karma because of that; or maybe that’s just why I’m so fucking pissed and aggressive all the time. You know and pretty much have that fighter’s mentality, because I was pretty much born fighting through just to survive and it’s in my blood.
Nick King (MMASucka.com) – On that note, Ben is a fighter, he was born a fighter and made it. He is here to do some damage this Saturday at Bellator 57 in Ontario, Canada. Good luck, and are there are any sponsors or anyone you want to shout out?
Ben Saunders – Definitely, first I want to thank American Top Team and I want to thank all my coaches and teammates for helping me prepare for all my fights. They put in the time and energy to help me up my game and really push me and help me fight through it just to come out on top. Big thanks to Paul Rodriguez my main and head instructor. Obviously Ricardo Liboro and Dan Lambert of ATT. I want to thank Yoked Up Apparel, my main sponsor. Everybody show your support and represent man. Go buy yourself an official “Killa B” Walkout T-Shirt at yokedupapparel.com. Hit me up on Twitter @BenSaundersMMMA. You can actually go to my website it has my twitter, my facebook and it’s a way to contact me. The website is BenSaundersMMA.com.
