The overrated Ben Saunders
by Zak Woods on Jun 9, 2009 3:00 PM EDT
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We are all victims to the present.
After LeBron James made his 'shot' everyone proclaimed that the King had had offically past Michael Jordan. The Cavs lost the series in six games and 'The King' acted like a spoiled prince sulking on the bus.
After Super Bowl XLIII many pundits proclaimed it the best Superbowl ever. But wait a second, wasn't the previous year's Superbowl the greatest ever?
These knee jerk reactions are understandable. When you witness something amazing you are flooded with emotions that make you feel elated, as if you are experiencing a once in a lifetime moment. It is basic biological reaction of euphoria and the emotionial high clouds our judgements as we revel in the 'now'.
The 'now' has come to define Ben Saunders.
Saunders last fought for UFC Fight for the Troops in December of 2008. Saunders faced off against Brandon Wolff, a fighter who was making his UFC debut. Ben Saunders looked fantastic completely obliterating Wolff on his way to a first round TKO in under two minutes. Saunders Thai clinch was so devastating that comparisons to UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, were thrown around like chump change. Hold on a second, we are talking about Ben Saunders right?
This is the same Ben Saunders who lost to the now disgraced Tommy Speer. The same Ben Saunders that couldn't summon the heart to re-enter the competition on The Ultimate Fighter 6. The same Saunders that Dan Barrera almost beat.
When did Saunders transition from maybe a decent fighter to legitimate welterweight?
It was at UFC Fight for the Troops. It was a sham.
However impressive Ben Saunders victory was he possessed some serious height and reach advantages over Wolff. While that doesn't translate into an instant win it also doesn't help that Wolff is 0-2 in the UFC and was making his debut.
In fact all of Saunders UFC victims are defeated in the UFC. Ryan Thomas is 0-2 and lost to the 9-7 Matt Brown. Dan Barrera was a one in done in the organization and we already touched on Brandon Wolff. Even the man who beat Saunders in TUF 6, Tommy Speer, hasn't won in the UFC.
Look at that resume, it is filled with bums, so much so that Saunders is completely absent from the top-25 of the division.
It is not surprising that the Saunders bandwagon filled up faster than the Orlando Magic's did a week ago. But that doesn't change the fact that right now Ben Saunders is the epitome of an overrated commodity.
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While I don’t disagree that Saunders hasn’t faced any stiff competition in the UFC and lost to Tommy Speer as you mentioned, what’s to say that Fight for the Troops wasn’t a coming out party for an impressive Ben Saunders?
Anderson Silva comparisons should never be made, as proven with Dana White’s endorsement of Phillipe Nover on TUF 8. That being said, Saunders looked very impressive driving repeated knees into the face of Wolff back in December. It doesn’t mean he’s going to do the same to Swick, but he might.
After all, stranger things have happened.
So too had Brett Rogers before he knocked Andrei Arlovski into next week.
(Yes, I understand the irony of me using that as my example …)
Andrei Arlovski is a little diff than Brandon Wolff. Plus the heavyweight division is notoriously thin compared to the shark-tank, mine-field, metaphor laden UFC welterweight division
watchkalibrun.com
just to play devils advocate, shouldn’t fights on the ultimate fighter not be over scrutinized because fighters do not have a full training camp and adequate time to deal with injuries or illnesses
by cookiemonster1508 on Jun 9, 2009 4:01 PM EDT reply actions
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