The 6-foot-2 Saunders utilized his height and reach advantage to pepper Davis with punches, before knocking the former pro boxer out with a knee inside the clinch.
“It's definitely a lot easier with shorter guys,” said Saunders, who sparred with southpaws for the Davis bout. “People don't know how to deal with my clinch situation and it definitely makes things a lot easier for me. But I feel on the very advanced level when it comes to the clinch in the sense that when they actually start utilizing forms of defense for it, I have counters to defenses -- I just haven't had to show it yet really.”
The 26-year-old Saunders hopes to keep showing fans more in a rematch with Swick, who dropped a unanimous decision against Dan Hardy in a title elimination bout at UFC 105 earlier this month in Manchester, England.
Saunders said he was rubbed the wrong way by Swick and his American Kickboxing Academy team following the UFC 99 bout.
“After the fight, (Swick) ended up coming to the back and talking for a bit,” he said. “I was kind of feeling out if he was just trying to gloat or just trying to rub it in my face. What's going on here? I went with it. He seemed like it may have been he was more excited than gloating and I was like, 'Oh, that's cool man.'”
But then Saunders ran into Swick and the camp again later, he said.
“I went up to Bob Cook after, I was looking for my corner Paul Rodriguez and I said, 'Hey Bob, have you seen Paul?' said Saunders. “And he was like, 'Man, you're still smiling, huh?' I had nothing to be ashamed of. I got TKO'ed by Mike Swick and I'm fighting in the UFC living my dream and then they said something. Then as I was walking away his entire corner and Mike Swick were more like, 'Got knocked the f--- out,' or something like that. And I was like, 'Are you serious?' I thought that was ridiculous, arrogant and uncalled for.”
The welterweight fighter said he couldn’t believe the fighter now in front of him was the same one that had visited him backstage earlier.
“Mike Swick just was in the back with me trying to be cool with me and then you're going to act like that because you're with your crew and all laughing in my face as I'm walking away?” asked Saunders.
Saunders would also like a shot at Swick in better health. The fighter said he injured a rib just prior to his departure to Germany, but couldn’t withdraw from the bout with bills and training debt lingering. Saunders said he was later diagnosed with a fractured rib.
“I didn't know the extent of the injury until afterward, but I apologized to (UFC President) Dana (White) and the UFC and all the fans because it was just really unprofessional on my part to go out there and not be able to perform, to put on a show or really fight to the best of my ability due to an injury and what not,” said Saunders. “I don't take it away from Swick. He beat me on that given night. He beat the Ben Saunders that was put in front of him and props to him on that. It really just bummed me that I had to put myself in that situation.”