Stephan Bonnar wanted a name opponent for his return to the cage this year, but what he was offered instead was rising star Kyle Kingsbury. And although Kingsbury might be a tad lacking in star power, there was an appeal.
“I was content with [Kingsbury as an opponent] just cause of the fact he’s got a couple Fight of the Night bonuses,” Bonnar said with a laugh on Monday’s The MMA Hour. “And that evens it out. I think our chances of getting a bonus are pretty good.”
Bonnar, who meets Kingsbury this Saturday at UFC 139, says his Fight of the Night chase isn’t all about the paper. Bonnar feels he has the advantage on the ground and an early brawl is part of the strategy.
“I know I say it in a way that I’m going to be stupid and reckless,” he said. “But if I went out there like, ‘I think I have a better submission, I’m just going to take him down and submit him,’ I think it would be harder than if we slug it out first. Both of us landing some shots. I think that will help open up the submission a little better.”
In his last fight, Bonnar said he should have tried to soften up Igor Pokrajac before taking the fight to the mat. Sticking to a ground-centric effort, Bonnar wasn’t able to submit Pokrajac, but did enough for a unanimous decision.
It’s been almost a year since that fight due to injuries and poor timing. While “time flies” as he commented, he’s also been busy during the stretch with his broadcasting duties and his “Punch Buddies” tees, formerly “Trash Talkin’ Kids” (name changed for legal reasons). Bonnar saw the T-shirt line as a creative outlet.
“it wasn’t so much as setting myself up for later,” Bonnar said. “It’s about, man, I wanted to use my brain a little more than something other than a punching bag.”
Last Saturday, Bonnar joined Kenny Florian and Jay Glazer in the handling of the UFC on FOX pre and post-fight show on FUEL. Bonnar has done commentary for Versus shows and has been a guest analyst on MMA Live on ESPN. As an on-air talent, the TUF 1 icon will have no trouble finding a way to stay involved in the sport once his in-ring career is over and he understands fighting isn’t something he can do forever.
“I’ve been doing this for 10 years,” the 34-year-old said. “I haven’t really put an exact date. It takes toll on you. I’m not getting any younger, guys are getting better. I’d say no more than five years if that.”
Stephan Bonnar wanted a name opponent for his return to the cage this year, but what he was offered instead was rising star Kyle Kingsbury. And although Kingsbury might be a tad lacking in star power, there was an appeal.
“I was content with [Kingsbury as an opponent] just cause of the fact he’s got a couple Fight of the Night bonuses,” Bonnar said with a laugh on Monday’s The MMA Hour. “And that evens it out. I think our chances of getting a bonus are pretty good.”
Bonnar, who meets Kingsbury this Saturday at UFC 139, says his Fight of the Night chase isn’t all about the paper. Bonnar feels he has the advantage on the ground and an early brawl is part of the strategy.
“I know I say it in a way that I’m going to be stupid and reckless,” he said. “But if I went out there like, ‘I think I have a better submission, I’m just going to take him down and submit him,’ I think it would be harder than if we slug it out first. Both of us landing some shots. I think that will help open up the submission a little better.”
In his last fight, Bonnar said he should have tried to soften up Igor Pokrajac before taking the fight to the mat. Sticking to a ground-centric effort, Bonnar wasn’t able to submit Pokrajac, but did enough for a unanimous decision.
It’s been almost a year since that fight due to injuries and poor timing. While “time flies” as he commented, he’s also been busy during the stretch with his broadcasting duties and his “Punch Buddies” tees, formerly “Trash Talkin’ Kids” (name changed for legal reasons). Bonnar saw the T-shirt line as a creative outlet.
“it wasn’t so much as setting myself up for later,” Bonnar said. “It’s about, man, I wanted to use my brain a little more than something other than a punching bag.”
Last Saturday, Bonnar joined Kenny Florian and Jay Glazer in the handling of the UFC on FOX pre and post-fight show on FUEL. Bonnar has done commentary for Versus shows and has been a guest analyst on MMA Live on ESPN. As an on-air talent, the TUF 1 icon will have no trouble finding a way to stay involved in the sport once his in-ring career is over and he understands fighting isn’t something he can do forever.
“I’ve been doing this for 10 years,” the 34-year-old said. “I haven’t really put an exact date. It takes toll on you. I’m not getting any younger, guys are getting better. I’d say no more than five years if that.”
Filed under: UFC, NewsYushin Okami will take on Tim Boetsch in a middleweight bout at UFC 144 on Feb. 26, 2012 in Japan, UFC president Dana White said Tuesday on UFC.com.
Okami (26-6), who is coming off a failed attempt in August to dethrone Anderson …
Okami (26-6), who is coming off a failed attempt in August to dethrone Anderson Silva, will be fighting in Japan for the first time since June 2006. Two months after the GCM fight in Tokyo, Okami joined the UFC and went on to compile a 10-3 record.
Boetsch (14-4) out of AMC Pankration has reinvented himself as a middleweight this year, scoring wins over Kendall Grove and Nick Ring.
The last time the UFC presented an event in Japan was back at UFC 29 in December 2000.
In championship action at UFC 144, Frankie Edgar will defend his lightweight title against Ben Henderson. Yoshihiro Akiyama will also appear on the card, making his welterweight debut against Jake Shields.
Filed under: NewsFormer WWE superstar Bobby Lashley became a titleholder in MMA on Friday, beating Karl Knothe to win the Shark Fights heavyweight title at Shark Fights 21 in Lubbock, Texas.
Lashley, who had to endure four opponent changes for his pro…
Former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley became a titleholder in MMA on Friday, beating Karl Knothe to win the Shark Fights heavyweight title at Shark Fights 21 in Lubbock, Texas.
Lashley, who had to endure four opponent changes for his promotional debut with the Texas organization, won by keylock submission over Knothe (20-7) at three minutes and 44 seconds of the first round.
With the win, Lashley improved to 7-1 and is on a two-fight win streak since losing to Chad Griggs at a Strikeforce event in August 2010. Lashley has two more fights with Shark Fights.
In addition to the historic UFC on FOX event on Saturday, other MMA action took place over the weekend and we’ll take a look at some notable fights after the jump.
— PRIDE veteran Aleksander Emelianenko was knocked out in 23 seconds by Magomed Malikov (4-1) on Saturday in the main event of M-1 Challenge 28 in Russia. In his first punch of the fight, Malikov timed an overhand right to level Emelianenko against the ropes.
The setback put Emelianenko (17-5) in a position of back-to-back losses for the first time in his eight-year career.
Aleksander’s older brother Fedor, 35, fights this Saturday against Jeff Monson in Moscow.
— On Saturday, Douglas Lima earned a title shot against Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren by stopping Ben Saunders in the second round with strikes at Bellator 57 in Rama, Ontario, Canada.
At the same Bellator event, Alexander Shlemenko won this season’s Bellator middleweight tournament and will rematch Bellator champion Hector Lombard at a later date. Shlemenko on Saturday took a unanimous decision over Vitor Vianna.
— UFC veteran Rich Clementi bounced back from his May loss to Shinya Aoki in DREAM by defeating Ronnie Rogers Saturday at a Victory Promotions event in Lowell, Mass. The 34-year-old Clementi won with a rear-naked choke in the second round.
Ben Henderson and Clay Guida fought furiously for three full rounds and were awarded Fight of the Night honors at Saturday’s UFC on FOX 1 event at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
In the scrappy fight, Henderson defeated Guida by unanimous decision to become the next challenger in line for champion Frankie Edgar.
All post-fight award winners on Saturday earned a $65,000 bonus.
New heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos edged out DaMarques Johnson for the Knockout of the Night award. In just 64 seconds, Dos Santos connected on an overhand right to drop Cain Velasquez and finish with a flurry of punches. Johnson was the other (T)KO candidate with a crushing left uppercut on Clay Harvison in 94 seconds. Robert Peralta also technically won via (T)KO but the finish came about controversially when an intentional headbutt floored opponent Mackens Semerzier.
For Submission of the Night, featherweight Ricardo Lamas attached a tight arm-triangle choke to submit Cub Swanson in the third round. The was one other submission finish on the card, a D’arce choke applied by featherweight Dustin Poirier over Pablo Garza.
According to UFC president Dana White, UFC on FOX 1 drew a gate of $1.1 million and 14,019 in attendance.
Ben Henderson and Clay Guida fought furiously for three full rounds and were awarded Fight of the Night honors at Saturday’s UFC on FOX 1 event at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
In the scrappy fight, Henderson defeated Guida by unanimous decision to become the next challenger in line for champion Frankie Edgar.
All post-fight award winners on Saturday earned a $65,000 bonus.
New heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos edged out DaMarques Johnson for the Knockout of the Night award. In just 64 seconds, Dos Santos connected on an overhand right to drop Cain Velasquez and finish with a flurry of punches. Johnson was the other (T)KO candidate with a crushing left uppercut on Clay Harvison in 94 seconds. Robert Peralta also technically won via (T)KO but the finish came about controversially when an intentional headbutt floored opponent Mackens Semerzier.
For Submission of the Night, featherweight Ricardo Lamas attached a tight arm-triangle choke to submit Cub Swanson in the third round. The was one other submission finish on the card, a D’arce choke applied by featherweight Dustin Poirier over Pablo Garza.
According to UFC president Dana White, UFC on FOX 1 drew a gate of $1.1 million and 14,019 in attendance.
“Nothing happened with Brittney Palmer. It’s one of those situations where Brittney has moved onto other things. She’s living in L.A. now. She wants to be an artist and she’s going to art school.”
Arianny Celeste and Chandella Powell are the two other active UFC Octagon girls. During Palmer’s absence, model Vanessa Hanson was brought in once as a guest Octagon girl at UFC 136 as a prize for winning a Transworld Surf open model search.
UFC president Dana White talked Wednesday onThe Jim Rome Show about the inevitability of Sonnen vs. Silva 2.
“It’s the fight that everyone wants to see,” said White. “People want to see Chael vs. Anderson. Anderson is in this position where he feels like this guy is so disrespectful he doesn’t want to give him a shot and everything else. But Anderson will end up fighting Chael Sonnen.”
Sonnen last month returned to action with a submission win over Brian Stann at UFC 136. After the fight, Sonnen ignored Joe Rogan’s first question to immediately go on the attack against Silva.
“Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck,” Sonnen told Rogan. “Super Bowl weekend, the biggest rematch in the history of the business. I’m calling you out, but we’re upping the stakes. If I beat you, you leave the division. You beat me, I will leave the UFC forever.”
“That offer was good when I made it, but it’s like any offer, they got to expire,” Sonnen told Rome 10 days after the fight. “Apparently, that didn’t work. I’m doing anything I can to lure him out and yes, I would have absolutely done that.”
There’s no target date yet for a rematch as Silva is currently out with a shoulder injury.
Silva’s former training partner Mark Munoz threw his name in the hat last Saturday at UFC 138 by asking for a title shot against Silva, but it’s now clear that Munoz will have to wait.
Stephan Bonnar wanted a name opponent for his return to the cage this year, but what he was offered instead was rising star Kyle Kingsbury. And although Kingsbury might be a tad lacking in star power, there was an appeal. 
Yushin Okami
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Chael Sonnen