For Ben Saunders, path back to the UFC goes through fellow big-show vet Jacob Volkmann

On paper, it seems obvious what Ben Saunders did.

To onlookers, it seemed like Saunders let his UFC contract expire to cash in on the free-agent market, a growing trend in MMA. His fight against Patrick Cote back in January was the last on his UFC deal and a big win there could have raised his stock.

Except the public perception was completely off the mark. Saunders wasn’t thinking of free agency — he was contemplating retirement.

“It makes sense why people would assume that,” Saunders told MMA Fighting. “But no, man. I had sh*t going on. My management came at me saying that UFC sent over a contract, and I was gonna retire. I wasn’t interested. I didn’t care how much it was for. It could have been $100,000 and $100,000 and I didn’t even f*cking know.”

Saunders, 33, came into the Cote fight riding a three-fight winning streak in the UFC. He has made a name for himself over the years as a crowd favorite, an action fighter. Cote ended up beating him by second-round TKO in Boston.

With his UFC contract done, Saunders said he had concerns elsewhere. There were family issues and other personal things to attend to. His grandparents both died around the same time. Saunders would prefer not to go into detail about all the things on his plate, but he felt like he needed some time before thinking about MMA again.

“It sucks that I’m so vague about everything that was going on, because it makes it really hard for people to understand my point of view,” Saunders said. “But out of respect for the certain people that are involved in the situation that weren’t a part of the negative parts, I can’t get into it. All I can say is that it had nothing to do with the UFC, it had nothing to do with money.”

With everything cleared up behind the …

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