Tag: Stephan Bonnar

Stephan Bonnar: "I Could Shock the World"

With his fight against Anderson Silva a little over a week away, Stephan Bonnar believes the stars are aligning for the biggest upset in UFC history.As a 13-to-1 underdog, it’s safe to say no one is giving Bonnar much of a chance. He will travel to Bra…

With his fight against Anderson Silva a little over a week away, Stephan Bonnar believes the stars are aligning for the biggest upset in UFC history.

As a 13-to-1 underdog, it’s safe to say no one is giving Bonnar much of a chance. He will travel to Brazil on October 13 to face arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history in his home country.

As a light heavyweight, Bonnar has always been a highly-respected middle-of-the-pack fighter, but he has never been considered an upper-echelon contender. Perhaps the most significant win of his entire career came against Keith Jardine in November 2006.

Unlike so many others, Bonnar has never cared much about the UFC title. His aspirations as a fighter have always been all about giving everything he has against whoever the UFC puts in front of him.

There aren’t any world-class names in Bonnar‘s win column, but he has gone the distance with some of the best fighters in the history of the sport.

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones named Bonnar as his toughest opponent during an appearance on Spike TV’s MMA Uncensored back in May.

Bonnar has never been a world champion or even a UFC title contender, but he has always felt that he has had a fulfilling career.

During the post-fight show for UFC on FUEL 4, Bonnar hinted at his retirement, after UFC President Dana White turned down proposed bouts with Forrest Griffin and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

It came as a shocker for Bonnar when he was offered the bout against Silva, thanks to some great pitch work from his manager Wayne Harriman.

“There was no hesitation [when I got the phone call for this fight]. I honestly didn’t think my manager would be able to pull it off,” Bonnar told MMA Fight Corner, during an open workout on Wednesday in Las Vegas.

Bonnar continues:

[My manager] hit me up with a text like, “What about fighting Anderson?” I was like, “Yeah, come on. You can’t get a bigger name than Anderson Silva. Of course, I’d love that fight, but good luck trying to talk Dana into that one. I mean, I couldn’t get him to give me and Forrest the “TUF” coaching job, and now Anderson Silva? Yeah, come on.”

It’s Wayne Harriman, my manager, so give him some props. His nickname is Copperfield because I don’t know how in the hell he pulled that off.

The original UFC 153 headliner was supposed to be a featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar, but after Aldo pulled out of the bout with an injury, the UFC was forced to find a replacement main event.

Silva offered his services to save the fight card, and Bonnar was given the opportunity of a lifetime.

If Bonnar defeats Silva, it will be considered by many as the greatest upset in UFC history. As proven so many times over the years, it’s ludicrous to write off anyone in such an unpredictable sport like MMA.

Longtime fans have witnessed the impossible happen time and time again.

Bonnar will always be remembered for his epic battle with Griffin at the finale of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 1. Some call it the greatest fight in UFC history. Others credit it as being the fight that put MMA on the map.

At UFC 153, Bonnar has a rare opportunity to do something much greater. He has a chance to come out of retirement and defeat the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world in his home country.

Can it be done?

Bonnar weighs in:

This is a defining moment of my whole life, everything I’ve gone through, all the martial arts I’ve done, all the training, MMA fights, and boxing matches, and wrestling and grappling. This is like the culmination of it all.

Really, I think it’s all meant to be. It’s perfect, it really is. It feels like all the stars are aligning just like it did on that magical night for the UFC back when I fought Forrest the first time, and I feel like I could shock the world.

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UFC 153: Silva vs. Bonnar Media Conference Call Live Blog and Updates

UFC 153 is right around the corner and the UFC will be hosting a conference call this afternoon for the press to speak with the main event fighters.Anderson Silva will be moving up in weight to fight Stephan Bonnar, while Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira faces…

UFC 153 is right around the corner and the UFC will be hosting a conference call this afternoon for the press to speak with the main event fighters.

Anderson Silva will be moving up in weight to fight Stephan Bonnar, while Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira faces off with Dave Herman. 

The call will have Silva, Bonnar, Nogueira, and Herman speaking about their upcoming bouts on October 13. 

Join Bleacher Report this afternoon for a live blog of the call at 4:00 PM ET/1:00 PM PT. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 153: 5 Likely Scenarios for Silva vs. Bonnar

UFC 153: Silva vs. Bonnar features what many pundits are considering one of the most lopsided matchups in the history of mixed martial arts.The fight between consensus No.1 fighter in MMA Anderson Silva and The Ultimate Fighter runner-up…

UFC 153: Silva vs. Bonnar features what many pundits are considering one of the most lopsided matchups in the history of mixed martial arts.

The fight between consensus No.1 fighter in MMA Anderson Silva and The Ultimate Fighter runner-up Stephan Bonnar is scheduled to take place on October 13, 2012.

What will happen when the Spider steps inside the cage with the American Psycho?

View the next slides for my predictions. 

Begin Slideshow

Brace Yourselves, Griffin Bonnar a.k.a MMA’s Future Savior Is on the Way


(Well, at least he’ll be really funny!) 

It’s no understatement to say that the fight between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar at the TUF 1 Finale basically saved the sport of MMA from those damned dirty machines. What machines are we referring to? These machines. But as you all know, our ambitiously misguided Skynet overlords have continued forward in their quest to replace man on the top of the food chain nonetheless. Lucky for us, the universe is about give birth to the John Connor that will eventually save the sport of MMA, nay, the world, from the cold, lifeless grip of the cyborgs. And by “universe” we mean Stephan Bonnar’s wife, Andrea, and by John Connor we mean Griffin Bonnar, a name so coincidentally similar slash awesome that only this man could have come up with it.

Yahoo! Sports has the details:

UFC fighter Stephan Bonnar will become a first-time father sometime in October. Bonnar and his wife, Andrea, haven’t decided definitively upon a name for their unborn son, but one name they’ve kicked around is Griffin. As in, Griffin Bonnar.


(Well, at least he’ll be really funny!) 

It’s no understatement to say that the fight between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar at the TUF 1 Finale basically saved the sport of MMA from those damned dirty machines. What machines are we referring to? These machines. But as you all know, our ambitiously misguided Skynet overlords have continued forward in their quest to replace man on the top of the food chain nonetheless. Lucky for us, the universe is about give birth to the John Connor that will eventually save the sport of MMA, nay, the world, from the cold, lifeless grip of the cyborgs. And by “universe” we mean Stephan Bonnar’s wife, Andrea, and by John Connor we mean Griffin Bonnar, a name so coincidentally similar slash awesome that only this man could have come up with it.

Yahoo! Sports has the details:

UFC fighter Stephan Bonnar will become a first-time father sometime in October. Bonnar and his wife, Andrea, haven’t decided definitively upon a name for their unborn son, but one name they’ve kicked around is Griffin. As in, Griffin Bonnar.

They’ve talked about naming him Brandon, in memory of Andrea’s late brother, Brandon Brown. But Griffin remains seriously in the hunt as a very real, and cool, possibility for the baby’s name.

“It started as a joke, but it kind of grew on us, to name him Griffin,” Andrea Bonnar said. “Then he’d be Griffin Bonnar. It would be such a cute name and it would kind of create a tie to his dad. We’ve got a couple of good ones in the bank, and we’ll look at him when he comes out and decide,” she said, laughing.

ERMAHGERD. GRERTEST. NERM. ERVER.

While this is undoubtedly a fantastic bit of news for human kind, this obviously means that an indestructible cyborg has already been sent back in time to eliminate any chance of Griffin Bonnar being born. Come to think of it, we’ve got a good guess as to who it could be…

–J. Jones

UFC 153: Stephan Bonnar Talks Preparing for Anderson Silva

Stephan Bonnar has no clue how best to prepare to face arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history on three weeks’ notice. But he’ll find out soon enough when he steps into the cage against Anderson Silva in the main event at UFC 153 in Br…

Stephan Bonnar has no clue how best to prepare to face arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history on three weeks’ notice. But he’ll find out soon enough when he steps into the cage against Anderson Silva in the main event at UFC 153 in Brazil.

The match, which is due to take place on October 13, was hastily put together when the title fight between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar collapsed due to an injury to Aldo.

Silva stepped in to fight at light heavyweight against an unlikely opponent—Bonnar.

The latter spoke to MMA Junkie about his final weeks of preparation.

“I’ve been on the shelf since my fight 10 months ago,” said Bonnar. “I haven’t put the big gloves on and sparred in that whole time, until last week. It’s quite a challenge. What a challenge I have in front of me… I put in a good week last week. I didn’t get injured. (During) your first hard week, you always worry about that more than anything. So yeah, I made it through that and didn’t get injured, but I’m sore as hell.”

Bonnar was all but retired since his fight against Kyle Kingsbury in November last year. Until the announcement of the Silva match, Bonnar said he had no desire to get back into the cage unless he was given a big-name opponent.

But, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for. Silva is the reigning UFC middleweight champion with a record 10 title defences. He’s stepped up to 205 lbs twice in his UFC career and both times finished his opponents in the first round without breaking a sweat.

To pit Bonnar against a man who’s just come off the biggest fight in his career—against Chael Sonnen in July—seems hardly fair and few bookmakers or fans are giving the “American Psycho” much of a chance. And Bonnar knows this.

He told MMA Junkie that all he can do is “fight my ass off.”

“I can’t help but just give it everything I’ve got. If I’m not sleeping, I’m going to keep coming. I know no other way.”

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[VIDEO] The UFC’s Totally Honest Hype Trailer for UFC 153: Silva vs. Bonnar

I just watched the first official trailer for UFC 153: Silva vs. Bonnar and I’m stoked, Nation. Not because the brief montage of fight film, music and narration fooled me into thinking that Stephan Bonnar somehow isn’t a gigantic underdog against Anderson Silva, but rather because the trailer is so honest about his chances and what we’re likely to see. It’s a nice change of pace.

Check it out above and see what I mean. After injuries jacked up UFC 153’s main event twice as well as the originally scheduled co-main, the UFC did the best they could by getting the world’s best fighter on the card and throwing a fearless, aggressive, entertaining fighter at him. The trailer serves as a reflection of this, as it basically tell fans, “Look, Anderson Silva is probably going to knock Bonnar out and we all know whenever ‘The Spider’ does that it’s hella exciting. But if somehow that doesn’t happen, and Bonnar wins, well that would be as big of an upset as we’ve ever seen, and dang, wouldn’t that be exciting, too? Please watch us. It’s been a rough year.”

I just watched the first official trailer for UFC 153: Silva vs. Bonnar and I’m stoked, Nation. Not because the brief montage of fight film, music and narration fooled me into thinking that Stephan Bonnar somehow isn’t a gigantic underdog against Anderson Silva, but rather because the trailer is so honest about his chances and what we’re likely to see. It’s a nice change of pace.

Check it out above and see what I mean. After injuries jacked up UFC 153′s main event twice as well as the originally scheduled co-main, the UFC did the best they could by getting the world’s best fighter on the card and throwing a fearless, aggressive, entertaining fighter at him. The trailer serves as a reflection of this, as it basically tell fans, “Look, Anderson Silva is probably going to knock Bonnar out and we all know whenever ‘The Spider’ does that it’s hella exciting. But if somehow that doesn’t happen, and Bonnar wins, well that would be as big of an upset as we’ve ever seen, and dang, wouldn’t that be exciting, too? Please watch us. It’s been a rough year.”

Listen, I’m a Pride FC head, so I don’t need much convincing to get into crazy cool freak show match ups. In fact, I spend hours every Sunday morning scouring the Interwebs for tapes of Fedor fighting Zulu Jr., Cro Cop kicking Dos Caras’ mask off, and things of that nature, so you’re darn tooting I’ll watch Silva challenge himself at a higher weight class against a guy who’s beaten, barely lost to, or at least survived against the best the light heavyweight division has offered him over the last seven years.

I know “The American Pyscho” is just a nick name, but there really is something off about that Stephan Bonnar character. He’s a smart, educated guy that doesn’t mind throwing both of those things out the window in an instant for the sake of a good scrap. Blood doesn’t faze him and he may think that he’s a Samurai. Put it this way, here in Chicago we’re pretty certain that the Honey Badger stopped giving a fuck after rooming with Bonnar at Purdue University freshman year.

– Elias Cepeda