Ben Saunders Speaks On UFC 86, UFC Video Game, More

Posted by Dustin James on 05.12.2008

The Ultimate Fighter 6 contestant speaks.....

Ultimate Fighter 6 contestant Ben Saunders recently conducted an interview with MMA Junkie and discussed numerous topics such as his upcoming fight against Jared Rollins at UFC 86, the UFC video game, and more:

On his upcoming fight with Jared Rollins at UFC 86 and if the loser of the fight faces the possibility of being released:

"I'll be fighting J-Roc in July. It might be a go home fight for J-Roc. He lost to George Sotiropoulos, and he lost to War Machine (Jon Koppenhaver) on the finale. I'm not worried on my end because I'm going to bring it. I'm coming to fight."

On where he will be training for the fight:

"I'm mixing it up. I've already gone down there (Coconut Creek) for a week, and now I'm back in Orlando training and teaching the night class here at ATT Orlando. I'll be headed back down again before my fight. There are so many of the top fighters for me to train with down there, so many black belts all with their own styles. I'll tell you what, if I'm gassed in my fight, it will be because it's an absolute war, and everyone will be getting their money's worth."

On why he smiles when he fights:

"I could smile for hundreds of reasons. Honestly I have no reason not to smile. I'm living my dream. If I kick you in the head really hard, I'm going to smile. If you hit me with a good shot, I'm going to smile. I fight because I love to fight; it's all I have ever wanted to do. I'm not here because I have to be. I'm here because I want to be. If my opponent hits me with a good shot, he is a professional fighter in the UFC and should already know he hit me hard. It's what we train to do. It's the warrior instinct."

On who he would like to fight in the UFC:

"I'm here to test myself against the best fighters in the world. I'm happy to fight whoever Joe Silva and my manager tell me to fight. I'd fight [Georges St. Pierre] or Jon Fitch tomorrow if they asked me to. I'm not saying I'd win or lose, but I'd fight. The UFC has all the top 10 fighters in the welterweight division except for maybe Jake Shields. This is where I want to be, testing myself against the best."

On the UFC video game:

"Yeah, they (the developers) got in touch with me and flew me out. Dana told me it would happen, and if Dana says it's going to happen, it happens. I've been a fan of the UFC games for years, and it's a goal of mine to be in the game. They have a 3D scanning system, and they do a scan of your whole body. They also took a bunch of pictures from all different angles. Also they will take videos of my fights to study my movements and replicate them in the game. I told them it was cool if they just wanted to give me Anderson Silva's default skill set."

Credit: MMA Junkie