The thought of Stephan Bonnar pulling off the biggest upset in UFC history over Anderson Silva was nothing more than a passing daydream.
At UFC 153, Silva gave Bonnar a hard reality check in the form of a vicious knee that forced the referee to call a halt to the action at 4:39 in the first round.
“Thanks to everyone for the support, I’m so sorry I lost. I feel so bad for letting my fans down, but I promise to make it up to you,” Bonnar posted on Twitter after the fight.
Before his bout with Silva, Bonnar had never been knocked out or submitted in his MMA career. Obviously, there’s a first time for everything, especially when you’re going toe to toe with arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history.
Still, Bonnar doesn’t have anything to be ashamed of in his defeat.
Coming in as a 13-to-1 underdog, no one really expected Bonnar to pull off the upset. There was no pressure heading into the fight. After accepting the fight on short notice, the only thing expected of Bonnar was to come out and fight like he always does.
Even though he didn’t get the desired outcome, Bonnar can find solace in the fact that he fought his fight. He didn’t mess around on the outside and wait for Silva to react.
As soon the fight started, he pressed the action and forced Silva to fight. Unfortunately, he ended up getting caught with a knee in the process.
When the curtain closes on Bonnar‘s career, there won’t be any world titles or broken records, but he will always be remembered as a fighter who fought with his heart and never shied away from any opponent.
Someday, he’ll be able to tell his grandchildren that he traveled to Brazil to headline a major UFC card against the greatest fighter in MMA history.
Like in his epic fight with Forrest Griffin, Bonnar was once again a part of history, and no one can ever take that away from him.
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