Ben Saunders on UFC return: 'The second I got cut that was the goal'

Ben Saunders is on his way to a somewhat surprising short notice return to the UFC. Not suprising in that he doesn't deserve to be there, but that for a fighter coming off a loss and set to headline a Titan FC card, a lot of little things had to happen for his UFC return to become a reality. For his part, Saunders sounds determined to make the best of it. And as he was already set to headline an upcoming card, doesn't seem all that worried about the short notice nature of the fight. He spoke to Fox Sports about his release from Bellator and what it means to get back to the UFC so shortly after.

"That was always the goal. The second I got cut that was the goal," Saunders said. "I made a post on my Facebook and my social media letting people know the sad news that I got cut and it wasn't just a small post. I wrote out exactly how I felt and I made a damn promise to myself that I wasn't going to stop and I was not going to quit until I brought my skill set up and proved I belonged in the show.

"This entire time I've been out that's the only purpose I've had. I cannot fail myself. Honestly after this fight I could die, I could never fight again, and I would be so satisfied because I did what I set out to do."

He also spoke about his time in Viacom's MMA organization, saying, "almost all the people that worked for Bellator and almost all the fighters on their roster are freaking amazing people. They're awesome people and I loved my time with those people. My time with certain head people, which I won't get into, it was bad..." Saunders was a notable critic of Bjorn Rebney following Rebney's departure from Bellator, going as far as to say that he visualized his opponents as the Bellator CEO, while in the cage. But, now he's back and with a lot more experience under his belt, it sounds like he's looking to stick around for quite a while.