UFC light heavyweight Steve Bosse was booked for his fourth bout in the promotion this week. The light heavyweight will lock horns with Jared Cannonier at The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale this summer, a classic striker versus grappler matchup that should prove a nice test for both guys.
Cannonier is something of a prospect at this stage, and the UFC will look to test him against the Canadian slugger. Bosse is a dangerous commodity and something of a grizzled veteran, as despite only 14 pro fights, he had an entire life as a legendary hockey enforcer before tackling MMA.
Looking at the stats, it’s probably not exaggerating it to suggest he’s been in hundreds of on-ice wars. So to put it mildly, The Boss knows a thing or two about throwing hands.
In his younger days, Bosse made a name for himself in the Ligue Nord-Americaine de Hockey, a semi-professional league in Quebec known as much for brawling as for hockey. In only 113 career games, he put up a staggering 808 penalty minutes.
That’s an average of just over seven penalty minutes a game. For comparison, according to SportingCharts.com, in the 2016 NHL season, only three players in the entire league who played a full season averaged over two.
So yes, in his day Bosse was quite a handful on the ice. With 10 of his 12 wins coming by knockout, you could pretty convincingly argue he still is.
One of his greatest fistic sagas was shared with another Canadian minor pro enforcer, Jon “Nasty” Mirasty. The documentation is sparse given the limited exposure of the league they played in, but they fought no less than five times and might well have been into double digits by the time Bosse permanently traded skates for four-ounce gloves in 2015.
To see how a hockey fight is set up between the combatants and unfolds in the game, enjoy the clip below. It shows Bosse and Mirasty chatting pregame, eyeing each other before the tilt, circling one another and getting amped up, then throwing absolute bombs with reckless abandon until the officials break it up.
If you like the honor and gamesmanship of MMA but you’re not into things like defense or head movement, you’ll probably enjoy it.
The TUF Finale happens July 7 in Las Vegas and is presently without a headliner. TJ Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt are coaching the season and will meet the next night at UFC 213.
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