Former Navy SEAL returns to the cage, after taking a beating in UFC debut

What happens when someone knees you some 50 times in 109 seconds? Sadly Brandon Wolff knows firsthand.

The former Navy SEAL sustained four facial fractures, including a fractured forehead, and a broken nose in losing his UFC debut in ugly fashion to Ben Saunders in December.

"I got beat up pretty good," the Hawaiian welterweight said by way of understatement.

Wolff (7-3) returns to action May 23 at UFC 98 in Las Vegas against Japan's Yoshiyuki Yoshida, a fourth-degree judo black belt who suffered a beatdown of his own on the same "Fight for the Troops" card in December in Fayetteville, N.C.

Yoshida (10-3) was knocked out by Josh Koscheck in the 170-pound main event. He was staggered by a straight right, falling into the fence. And as he bounced back up, he was crunched again with a huge looping right at 2:15 of the first round.

Yoshida and Wolff look to put the painful losses behind them.

"To stay in the UFC, we both need a win," said Wolff.

At five foot nine, Wolff was giving up six inches against Saunders. The bigger man clamped his hands behind Wolff's head like a vise and hammered him with knees while holding the tattooed Hawaiian in place.

"He got me good. I made the mistake of staying in a Muay Thai clinch a little too long and I paid the man," said Wolff, whose training partners include twin brother and fellow SEAL Brenton.

By the time the referee stepped in, there was blood and an Elephant Man-like bump on Wolff's forehead.

In addition to the busted forehead, the damage toll included two fractures above the right eye and one below. Wolff's face was so swollen he had double vision for several weeks.

Amazingly he was back in the gym in a month.

"I was more mentally distraught than anything," he said. "I was just unhappy about how I got destroyed in my debut. But I healed up good. And I just wanted to get back in there as soon as possible. . . . I was just happy to get a second chance. I didn't think I was going to get one."

In order to keep fighting, Wolff has put reconstructive surgery on hold.

"If I did do that, it would have kind of weakened the rest of my skull," he explained. "If I got hit in there again, which I would have, it probably would have caused more damage. So they just recommended it's something that I should take care of later, when I'm ready to retire from fighting."

Wolff, 33, is a hard man. He survived the gruelling SEAL training, spent four years in the navy and now works for a private security firm called Linxx Security Services, based in Virginia and founded by ex-SEALS, where he essentially teaches military personnel unarmed combat.

But he met his match in Saunders.

"It was the first time ever that I've got my ass kicked," he said. "It was a good learning experience - something that's never going to happen again."

Ironically, Wolff felt like a million bucks going into the fight. "I even had a dream the night before that I smashed him."

"It just didn't go as planned," he added with a chuckle.

Wolff has managed to take a positive out of the lopsided fight, pointing out the amount of damage needed to stop him. "I'm not going to go down from anything small," he said.

"That's how we train over here," added the native of Kailua, on the windward side of Oahu. "That's our mindset. We fight until we can't fight no more. It just comes kind of natural."

Because the fight was televised on tape delay in Hawaii, he was able to let friends and family know he was OK before they saw it. But he said some people he didn't contact were upset at what they saw.

"I don't even like watching that fight," he said.

Still Wolff wouldn't mind another crack at Saunders.

"I learned a lot in that fight and I'd definitely like to fight him again. Because I know I'm capable of way more than that."

Yoshida, 34, will have to do, however. Wolff expects the five-foot-11 Japanese fighter to try to take him down.

For his part, Yoshida can expect a very motivated opponent.

Wolff said the Saunders fight made him feel "like an animal who was starving and never got to eat. And my meal was right in front of me. I never got to take a bite or anything.

"So I'm really happy, I'm really fortunate to be fighting again in the UFC. And I feel like I owe myself and everybody else out there a war, an exciting fight. And that's what I've been preparing myself for."

On the minus side, Wolff has not had as much time as he would like to train for Yoshida because of his day job. But he likes the matchup, saying he has plenty of training partners who are that kind of fighter and that he excels against opponents who try to get close to him to take him down.

"I'm not the best striker in the world but I'm confident fighting in close quarters," he said. "Because I've got short arms and I like to get close and fire my hands. I like ground and pound also. I feel confident in the clinch.

"It's just a good match for me and I'm just lucky to be fighting."