(photo by Tracy Lee via Yahoo! Sports)
Let’s face it, last night Stephan Bonnar (12-7) was staring at his pink slip when he looked across the octagon at opponent Krzysztof Soszynski (19-10-1).
Going into the fight with three straight losses, having only won 2 of his last 7, Bonnar needed a victory badly.
Rematching Soszynski after his controversial loss at UFC 110 when an inadvertent headbutt cut “The American Psycho’s” head open which caused the referee to stop the fight. Instead of going to the scorecard to determine a winner, the referee awarded “The Polish Experiment” with a TKO win.
So, looking to avenge that loss and save his job, Stephan Bonnar was out their to put it all on the line, and that’s exactly what he did.
Earning the wrong end of several knuckle sandwhiches, Bonnar bloodied and fatigued, scored a good couple of strikes in the second. This forced Soszynski into the cage attempting to cover up to regain his composure, but “The American Psycho” landed a big knee to his opponents head sending the fighter to the mat. Bonnar quickly followed that up with several strikes causing the referee to step in to end the fight at 3:08 of the second.
Not only did Bonnar save himself from the chopping block but he earned himself a cool $75,000 for his effort after being awarded on of two “Fight of the Night” awards. Now the former “TUF 1″ finalist has earned himself some breathing room with the win and the bonus, as the UFC will have to really look hard at his next performance should he fall the next time he steps into the octagon.