Getting a shot at mixed martial arts’ big time is all about the win-loss record.
Fighters typically are not rewarded early in their careers for merely taking on the toughest challenges — they must emerge victorious.
So when Etna native and Bangor resident “The” Ryan Sanders won just seven of his first 14 professional bouts against the likes of former Ultimate Fighting Championship contender Marcus Davis, undefeated Bellator MMA star Michael “Venom” Page and Brazilian toughman Gil de Freitas, his chances of elevating his career to national status weren’t considered as strong as that willingness to take on all comers.
But as Sanders, now 30, has rounded into the prime of his career, he’s experienced a resurgence of his chances to join former Young’s MMA of Bangor teammates Ray Wood (1-2 with Bellator), current teammate Bruce Boyington (2-1 with the Professional Fights League), ranked UFC middleweight Tim Boetsch of Lincolnville and Devin Powell of Wells, who signed with the UFC last fall.
Sanders will seek his fifth consecutive victory and eighth win in his last nine outings Saturday night when he squares off against Jay Ellis as part of “NEF 30: Rumble in Bangor” in the grand ballroom of the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.”
“My goal is the same as it’s been, to get to the next level and to keep winning,” said Sanders, who weighed in Friday afternoon at 169.1 pounds for the welterweight (170-pound) clash compared to 164.0 pounds for Ellis. “If I continue to win they can’t deny me.”
Sanders has lost just once since May 2015, that a unanimous decision to Russian Levan Makashvili on a nationally televised CES card in Lincoln, Rhode Island, 14 months ago, and has risen to the No. 1 ranking among New England lightweights (155-pound limit).
After originally campaigning in the welterweight division, the 6-foot-1-inch Sanders won the NEF pro lightweight title in his most recent bout, a second-round stoppage of Bangor-area rival Jon Lemke at Lewiston’s Androscoggin Bank Colisee in May.
Sanders’ record is now 14-8 with nine submission victories — six with his favorite move, the guillotine choke — and two knockouts. He’s been stopped only twice during his six-year professional career and not since a knockout loss to Page on a Bellator card in Lewiston more than four years ago.
That success has not come without a price.
“I’ve been matchmaking for him for years and nobody in New England wants to fight him,” said NEF co-owner and matchmaker Matt Peterson. “If they say do they’re lying, they’ll price themselves out of it by asking for some ridiculous purse to fight him.
“Every single person knows that at 155 he’s the most dangerous fight in New England right now.”
Sanders’ bout Saturday night is a case in point, a non-title affair against a veteran fighter from Menomee Falls, Wisconsin, who will enter the cage with a 13-64 record.
“Within a 36-hour period I literally went through four different opponents about two weeks ago before they came to a deal with this guy,” said Sanders, who will battle Ellis at 170 pounds due to the lateness of their agreement.
“He’s more or less a journeyman who takes a lot of last-minute fights, but it’s guys like him who keep the local guys like me on the cards. He comes in at the last minute and makes sure that the local guy gets his fight. I’m just happy it all worked out and I have an opponent so I can fight in my home town.”
Sanders has fought once before in front of White, the UFC president and 1987 Hermon High School graduate. That was exactly one year ago from Saturday’s scheduled bout, on Aug. 5, 2016, when NEF last came to the Queen City for a show that was videotaped for the “Dana White: Lookin’ for a Fight” web series.
That unanimous decision over New Jersey veteran Derrick Kennington was the first of Sanders’ current four-fight win streak, and while a victory over Ellis by itself won’t attract the major promotions’ attention, building his record to 8-1 since mid-2015 would represent another step toward earning a higher-level contract or perhaps a spot on another UFC production, either “Dana White’s Contender Series” or “The Ultimate Fighter.”
“Ryan’s on a four-fight win streak, he has a 79 percent finish rate and he’s rated No. 1 in New England by tapology.com, which is an algorithm-based system so it’s scientific, not subjective,” said Peterson. “He’s a title holder, the NEF lightweight champion at this point, and I absolutely think he can get to the next level.
“I think he’s ready to be plucked. I think he deserves a shot. He’s earned it and he’s going to go up there and capitalize if he gets the shot he deserves.”
Sanders has similar confidence in his ability, and in his belief that if he continues on his current track that his time will come.
“I’ve gotten a lot better in the last six months and in the next six months I’ll get even better,” he said, “so it’s just a matter of time before I get snatched up and I get a chance to prove how good I am.
“And once I get that chance I’m not going to let it go.”
Title contenders make weight
Ten fights are on tap at NEF 30 beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday, three professional bouts and seven amateur contests.
The fighters went through weigh-ins at the Sea Dog Brewing Co. in Bangor on Friday afternoon, with C.J. Ewer of Young’s MMA (183.7 pounds) and Mike Hansen of Rumford (184.9) both making weight for their NEF professional middleweight (185-pound) title fight.
Also making weight were both combatants for the other championship fight on the card, the NEF amateur bantamweight (135-pound) clash between Fred Lear of Young’s MMA (134.7 pounds) and Walt Shea of First Class MMA in Brunswick (133.8).
