Ban Saunders Says Fitch Loss Was a Learning Experience

Ben Saunders spoke with MMAjunkie about his fight with Patrick Cote at UFC Fight Night 81. Check out the highlights:

On his loss to Jon Fitch: “(The fight with Jon Fitch) was a huge learning experience, and I’ll thank him all day long; if it wasn’t for him and ‘Superman’ Hallman, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I stepped up my game and had to literally go above and beyond what I was already doing to learn and get better and look at me now. I got the (jiu-jitsu) to back it up and the standup to back it up. When I left, I was a striker with mediocre ground game, and I came back, and everyone is like, ‘Whoa, this guy has (jiu-jitsu) now.’”

On his fight with Cote: “Anybody with a name in the game, it’s an absolute honor to fight, and, in fact, those are the fights I’m looking for. I would imagine most people, most fighters, those are the fights they’re looking for whether or not they have the skillset to beat them. They just want to test themselves.”

On his improvement: “It’s taken me a long time to bring it all together and I think it’s finally happened. And obviously it’s going to continue to grow better.”