BANGOR, Maine — Ryan Sanders has been content to be the counter attacker for much of his professional mixed martial arts career.
But a mid-match change in that philosophy earlier this month has made him a champion.
The 28-year-old Brewer resident who trains at Young’s MMA in Bangor turned aggressor midway through his recent bout against Lucas Cruz at the Portland Exposition Building and rallied for a five-round, split-decision victory that earned him the Toe2Toe lightweight championship.
“In the third round I switched gears mentally and started opening up up with my striking and was able to use my reach to start to pick him apart,” said Sanders. “I was a lot quicker than he was, which was a surprise because we thought he was going to be quicker. But by the third round he started gassing out, and I was able to use my conditioning and reach and quickness against him.”
Sanders (9-7) needed to win the final three rounds after Cruz — a Boston, Massachusetts, product rated fourth among New England lightweights entering the bout — controlled the first two rounds on the mat.
It wasn’t an unfamiliar position for Sanders, who has been effective over the years while fighting from his back while on the mat.
But the matter of optics — and the sense that the fighter on top is winning by mere positioning — has led to some frustrating losses for Sanders, including two in New England Fights welterweight title bouts against Gil de Freitas.
He sensed it was about to happen again against Cruz if he didn’t do something about it.
“Even though I think we were going back and forth a lot because he would land some shots and I was landing some good shots from my back, it just doesn’t look that good fighting from my back and playing that game,” he said.
“My coaches and I have talked about me not accepting being on the ground just because I’m more comfortable on the ground than I am with my striking, and it turned out I was a better striker than Cruz was, and it just took me some time to realize that.”
Sanders’ stand-up game proved pivotal during a tightly contested final round against Cruz, 7-4.
“In the fifth round when he got me to the ground, the second he got me there, I just kept telling myself, ‘You have to get up, you have to get up.’ I was going to lose this fight if I didn’t get up because all my decision losses were from being held down,” Sanders said.
“My getting up those times against Cruz is what helped me win that fight. I was the one who was coming forward. I was the one who was striking, and he was just trying to hold me down. I was there to fight,” he said.
Sanders, who entered the fight ranked seventh among New England welterweights and ninth among the region’s lightweights, plans to continue campaigning at the lower weight class.
“Fighting at 155 is where I should have been all along because I feel really good and strong at 155,” he said. “And with Cruz being in the top five and me beating him it’s gotten the momentum rolling and hopefully it will open up doors.”
Sanders said those doors may lead farther away from his home turf.
“Toe2Toe has done a good job of bringing in good guys for me,” he said. “I want to fight the top-five guys, but it’s tough to get guys from Massachusetts and Rhode Island to come to Maine and fight because they lose out on ticket sales and things like that.
“In order for me to continue to grow, I’ll probably have to fight more out of state,” he said.
Boyington bout to be live streamed
Bruce Boyington’s World Series of Fighting debut on Saturday night will be available for viewing at www.WSOF.com.
Boyington, the New England Fights lightweight champion, will take a 10-8 record into his featherweight bout against Rodrigo Almeida as part of WSOF 24 to be held at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut.
Almeida from Woburn, Massachusetts, is 12-2 as a professional entering the bout, one of seven fights on the WSOF undercard. The prelims are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
“I have never been more excited in my mixed martial arts career,” said the 36-year-old Boyington, who lives in Brewer, “and I have never taken camp more serious, especially when it comes to my diet and lifestyle so that in itself gives me a lot of excitement for what I’m going to get to do on the national stage Saturday night.”
A second NEF champion slated to compete on the undercard is the promotion’s heavyweight title holder, Tyler King of North Attleboro, Massachusetts, who will face Pat Walsh of West Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
King (9-3) has held the NEF heavyweight title since May 2013 when he defeated Travis Bartlett, and he successfully defended the title this February with a first-round submission of Terry Blackburn at NEF XVI in Lewiston.
Walsh (6-2) has fought twice under the UFC umbrella, splitting those bouts. He has toiled primarily as a light heavyweight.
