UFC and Bellator veteran Ben Saunders has just received his black belt from the founder and head of 10th Planet, Eddie Bravo. This comes after Saunders has racked up a 37 fight MMA career, stretching all the way back to his debut in 2004. Alongside his newfound status as a 10th Planet black belt, he’s also a brown belt in traditional BJJ under Ricardo Liborio and currently fights out of Gracie Barra Orlando.
The promotion comes after a difficult patch in Ben Saunders’ career after his most recent fight against Matt Brown at UFC 245 back in December 2019, which he unfortunately lost via KO. This fight put Saunders on the receiving end of a four-fight losing streak, the longest since his professional MMA career began. Saunders has long been a staple figure of the Welterweight division in both the UFC and for a short time, Bellator as well. Starting out in The Ultimate Fighter and losing in the Quarter-Finals, Saunders was still rewarded with a UFC contract which ended after his first 4-3 run. He then moved to Bellator and made three attempts at winning Bellator Welterweight Tournament Seasons.
All three attempts were unsuccessful but his first and third were razor close as he made it all the way to the final, losing out to Douglas Lima on both occasions. He then left Bellator with a 7-3 promotional record and made his another attempt at a UFC title-run. This one started out very promising as Saunders made history in pulling off the UFC’s first ever Omoplata finish against Chris Heatherly. Since then, Saunders has fought for the UFC twelve times and improved his overall MMA record to 22-13-2 (10-10 UFC).
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