KOTC Champ Frankie Saenz’s Only Concern: Fighting Tough Guys and Getting Wins

Even with a late replacement three weeks before his latest scheduled King of the Cage flyweight title defense, Frankie Saenz was able to make the proper adjustments and come out with a first round submission victory over Tyler Bialecki.

“I didn’t know much about him,” admitted Saenz. “So I came in, paced myself, took my time and picked him apart.

“I ended up getting him to the ground and had him in half guard and started throwing elbows on him. I thought they were going to stop the fight with the elbows because he was kind of defending them with his hands but not really. I threw about 15 elbows, he ended turning into turtle position, so I took his back and choked him out with about seven seconds left in the round.”

The title defense was Saenz’s first since winning the belt back in May from Marvin Garcia.

Saenz told MMAWeekly.com that being the champion and defending his belt is a big motivator.

“It feels good defending my title,” he said. “I just come prepared for whomever King of the Cage throws at me. It keeps me in the gym and working hard to keep it rolling.”

Saenz was originally scheduled to face Randy Steinke on Sept. 28. When asked if he would like that match-up to eventually happen, Saenz commented if that’s the fight KOTC wants him to have next, he’ll be more than happy to, otherwise he’s down to take on all comers.

“It’s kind of up to KOTC,” he said. “I don’t know what their deal is with (Steinke), so I’ll just kind of wait to see who they throw at me next.

“I definitely want to get in a couple more fights (before the end of the year). I’ve got a couple things lined up and just get some more wins. That’s my only concern: fighting tough guys and getting wins.”