Benji Radach completes comeback to the big time at "EliteXC: Heat"

Originally posted on MMAjunkie.com

Twenty-eight months is a long time to think about what could have been.

But that's exactly what American Top Team's Benji Radach (18-4) did after a 2004 loss to Chris Leben.

"A lot of it was just sitting around all that time wanting to get back to [MMA]," Radach recently told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I was real hungry the whole time. I was injured -- one surgery after another. It was such a down period of time."

After suffering just one defeat in his first 15 bouts, including three appearances for the UFC, Radach dropped two straight fights and fell into obscurity. But the 29-year-old said he never lost faith his day would come again.

"I knew that I'd come out on top at some point," Radach said. "Things started clearing up for me. I went out to American Top Team and started training full time out there. Thanks to Dan Lambert and Ricardo Liborio I got back on my feet."

Radach got a second chance at his MMA career when the now-defunct IFL came calling.

"Thanks to (team coach) Bas Rutten I got on the (IFL's Los Angeles) Anacondas, and started whooping butt," Radach said. "I think that was a lot of it -- just the hunger and wanting to comeback so bad for so much time. I really put my all into it.

"Training full time was a big deal to get back in shape. And training with a great group of guys there at [American Top Team], I came back and started finishing fights. And that's kind of my style anyway -- I'm a pretty big finisher. It just kind of worked out for me. I got some good fights, some tough guys, and stepped into it.

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