Why Court McGee likes the cut of UFC Fight Night 103 opponent Ben Saunders' jib

PHOENIX – When it comes to MMA careers, Court McGee knows he’s got a lot in common with his upcoming UFC Fight Night 103 opponent, Ben Saunders.

The veteran welterweights meet on Sunday’s FS1-televised main card at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix. It’s a clash between two vets who actually first met years ago.

Back in 2010, McGee (18-5 MMA, 7-4 UFC) headed to The Pit Elevated, where he got ready for an eventual win over Kris McCray to win “The Ultimate Fighter 11.” At the same time, stablemate Chuck Liddell was getting ready for a fight with Rich Franklin, and Saunders (20-7 MMA, 7-4 UFC) was among the southpaws brought in to help “The Iceman.”

Naturally, McGee and Saunders eventually hooked up for some training of their own together.

“We trained almost every day that we were there,” McGee told MMAjunkie. “We grappled. We did wrestling. We did all the things were doing (at the gym) – sparring, drilling and bag work, grappling at night, conditioning. We went on some runs.

“We just had mutual respect. We’re both just martial artists. We were both in about the same time of our career at that time, as we are now.”

McGee, who recently picked up a thrilling win over Dominique Steele, hopes to pick up his first back-to-back wins since 2013 when he meets Saunders. But don’t expect trash-talk as we move closer to the bout. There’s too much mutual respect for that.

“Ever since (we trained together in 2010), I’ve followed his career,” he said. ” … We’ve just followed each other’s career. I think we both have respect. I mean, I have tremendous respect for anybody I compete against.”

Check out the full video above.

And for more on UFC Fight Night 103, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.