Tag: Stephan Bonnar

Where Would the UFC be Without Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar?

I want to get one thing straight from the start: I’m not a fan of Forrest Griffin or Stephan Bonnar.I’m not a fan of them individually as fighters, and I’m definitely not a fan of watching them two get together in the cage. For th…

I want to get one thing straight from the start: I’m not a fan of Forrest Griffin or Stephan Bonnar.

I’m not a fan of them individually as fighters, and I’m definitely not a fan of watching them two get together in the cage.

For that reason this article may contain a bias that I need to be upfront about.

Dana White is reported to have said The Ultimate Fighter 1 finale between Griffin and Bonnar was the most important fight in the UFC’s history.

I can’t find an actual quote of him saying that, so I’m taking all these “reported speech” quotes on face value. What can be confirmed, however, is that Spike TV in 2009 also voted the Griffin/Bonnar fight the greatest in the UFC’s history.

What made it so great? Well, for three rounds, the two fighters went at it with reckless abandon, throwing wild punches, kicks, knees and elbows. What they lacked in talent, they made up in heart.

Neither fighter landed any decisive shots, but they ended exhausted and cut and bruised, nonetheless.

And what’s more, that fight scored 3.3 million viewers for Spike TV, an unprecedented number for an event of this type. No wonder the network voted it the greatest fight in the UFC’s history.

It became the launchpad for the organization to do much bigger things. The UFC developed an expertise in hosting massive live events, and it would exploit this expertise in the Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Brock Lesnar fights to come later.

On the surface it would seem the UFC owes a great debt to Griffin and Bonnar—but that’s just the surface.

The The Ultimate Fighter 1 finale was the culmination of a 3.5-month reality TV show that aired on Spike TV between January and April 2005.

Reality TV is big business today, but in 2005, the format was just coming of age with shows like The Apprentice, Survivor and I’m A Celebrity cashing the biggest viewing figures.

The Ultimate Fighter was another one of these hit shows. What made it special was that it contained one of the most tantalizing and genuine rivalries in MMA at the time: Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell.

In their first fight, an aging Couture beat the then-fancied Liddell, causing a huge upset and winning the interim light-heavyweight championship. The win catapulted Couture to the status of an icon, as he became the face of MMA. The sport was already entering a golden age, as Couture would go on to defeat Tito Ortiz and Vitor Belfort—both huge names in their own right—before facing Liddell again.

In preparation of their second match, the UFC came up with a reality show spin: Make the two become coaches on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter and then have them fight for the belt at the end.

The move was a masterstroke. After The Ultimate Fighter had aired, Couture and Liddell 2 went down on the following weekend and clocked the highest-grossing live gate in the UFC’s history with $2,575,450 ticket sales.

There’s an argument that Griffin and Bonnar rode that wave, and the UFC owes a debt to a reality TV show and the Couture/Liddell legacy rather than those two fighters.

That’s admittedly a harsh view, and I’ll make the concession that, to the untrained viewer, the Griffin/Bonnar fight was a thrilling match. Two white guys slugging it out with tiny gloves like most people on TV had never seen before. It captivated and crowned the night in one of the most satisfying ways possible.

That’s still all it did, though. It promoted a reality TV show.

In the coming years, the show became a huge hit, and a cash cow, for the UFC. And yet even today, as it ever was, the series is a sideshow to what goes on in the UFC.

And with the reality format itself struggling now, The Ultimate Fighter is dying a slow death, churning out—with notable exceptions—mediocre stars.

And with that, with every year that passes, the Griffin/Bonnar fight fades further in the memory of having had the kind of significance it was once lauded with.

Looking back at the UFC today, neither fighter will be leaving much of a legacy, and neither will the fight they fought as part of a reality TV show.

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UFC: Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar as TUF Coaches Would Help the Brand

Dana White has been talking a lot about The Ultimate Fighter “brand” recently. Some of that is likely channeling of his buddies at Fox, who undeniably have more experience in television than the Baldfather and are probably a lot better at m…

Dana White has been talking a lot about The Ultimate Fighter “brand” recently. Some of that is likely channeling of his buddies at Fox, who undeniably have more experience in television than the Baldfather and are probably a lot better at making simple things sound complicated, too.

The last time White was talking about brands, he was discussing the Rashad Evans brand. To those who don’t recall, he didn’t seem too keen on the concept.

This new approach, though, is part of the new age of the UFC, where MMA and network appeal have clumsily melded together in the early stages of a television deal that has basically nowhere to go but up. Denying that things haven’t been good is irresponsible and a little silly, but acting like they’re not going to improve over the next seven years and that the sky is falling is equally so.

The UFC has to live in this present, though, doing so with an eye to the future. They need to do things to bring new eyes to TUF and also get longtime fans fired up as well. Simply saying “this is a fight show” and suggesting you don’t watch if you don’t like fights is not helping anyone.

One idea floating around out there that could work? Making the first stars of the TUF era, Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar, the coaches for the next go-round on FX.

White has already said he’s out on the idea. Out hard, too. Surely, he’s got some grand scheme where some rising star in some underpublicized division will match up with someone more marketable and create the greatest thing television has ever seen.

Except that was the plan this time, and it didn’t work. Like, it really didn’t work.

A Griffin-Bonnar season, while lacking any particular divisional significance and featuring two guys who are basically done, would prove a new dynamic.

Both guys are thoughtful, insightful, funny and quirky. That covers your reality TV angle.

The fact that they’re actually friends might be a welcome change of pace too. No mean mugging and lame one-upsmanship just because it feels like something that they should be doing for the camera.

They’ve also been in the game forever, so they have some concrete knowledge to pass on to the teams they select. That covers having the contestants learn something other than how to sleep in urine-soaked sheets over the course of the season.

Plus, and most importantly, they offer up history. With all due respect to Diego Sanchez, they are the original Ultimate Fighters. Their first fight is legendary. They put this entire sport on the map. That’s reality.

It’s a tough sell that coaches really make a difference to ratings or to people caring about TUF. The formula is what it is, and it produces some solid athletes for the UFC. The numbers are the numbers, whether its Brock Lesnar coaching or it’s Dominick Cruz. A big name will land a ratings spike for a week or two, but not over the course of a season.

So, with that in mind, why not throw a final bone to the two guys who laid the foundation for this show to even exist? On account of personality and pedigree alone, there is absolutely no way they can hurt the “brand” more than another vanilla season with coaches no one cares about anyway will.

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Stephan Bonnar Wants to Coach the Ultimate Fighter Opposite Forrest Griffin

UFC veteran and long-time fan favorite Stephan Bonnar has an interesting proposal for UFC President Dana White. The Ultimate Fighter Season One finalist hopes to return to the show as a coach in its 16th season.Who would he want as the other …

UFC veteran and long-time fan favorite Stephan Bonnar has an interesting proposal for UFC President Dana White. The Ultimate Fighter Season One finalist hopes to return to the show as a coach in its 16th season.

Who would he want as the other coach? None other than the man who defeated him in the finale of The Ultimate Fighter 1, Forrest Griffin.

Their first fight is regarded by many as the greatest fight in mixed martial arts history and White regards it as the most important fight in UFC history. According to MMAjunkie.com, Bonnar wants to make the magic happen again.

“I won’t go for any takedowns, Bonnar said. “I won’t block any punches. I’ll just be moving forward. I’m serious I would just go and slug it out and try to top our first one. What the hell do I have to lose? I want to give the fans a good one.”

Bonnar is currently riding a three-fight winning streak in the UFC’s light heavyweight division, but his past two victories have been uncharacteristically technical performances from the once-brawler.

“I’ve had a couple nice technical wins now without much damage,” Bonnar told MMAjunkie.com. “But now I’m actually missing the damage.”

After his most recent win over Kyle Kingsbury in San Jose, Calif., fans went so far as to boo Bonnar’s performance.

“It’s kind of flattering to have such high expectations,” he said. “People expect a barn-burning-type of back-and-forth bloody fight. This time I found some holes in his game and fought a real smart technical fight and showed superiors skills on the ground.

“I was proud of myself. Then I get up and everyone is booing. They expected me to bleed all over the place. Sorry I didn’t give you the paint-the-canvas-in-my-blood kind of fight.”

At 35-years-old, Bonnar is likely nearing the end of his MMA career and it seems he would really appreciate this coaching position to bring things full-circle.

“That’s what I want more than anything,” he said. “I probably won’t get what I want, but I’ll ask for it anyway.”

Dana White has yet to weigh in on the possibility of the Bonnar and Griffin coaching the Ultimate Fighter’s next season.

Stay tuned to Bleacher Report as more on this story develops.

Andrew Barr is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a stand-up comedian. Check him out on Twitter @AndrewBarr8.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Stephan Bonnar Wants to Coach ‘TUF 16? Against Forrest Griffin, Promises Not to Block Any Punches in Trilogy Fight


(Best frenemies forever.)

Through the majority of their parallel UFC careers, Stephan Bonnar has played second-banana to Forrest Griffin. The relationship started with Griffin’s career-launching win over Bonnar in their classic brawl at the first Ultimate Fighter finale in 2005; a rematch the following year resulted in the American Psycho going home with another decision loss and a steroid suspension. While Griffin was winning the UFC light-heavyweight title in 2008, Bonnar was on the sidelines due to injuries, and though Griffin occasionally ate a humiliating loss, Bonnar’s losses were even more embarrassing.

But lately, the two men have begun to shift trajectories. A not-quite-motivated Griffin suffered an ugly knockout against Mauricio Rua in Brazil last year, and is now booked in a relatively needless trilogy fight against Tito Ortiz in July. With Forrest in a holding pattern, Bonnar is now riding a three-fight win streak, with W’s over Krzysztof Soszynski, Igor Pokrajac, and Kyle Kingsbury. In other words, Griffin might be heading down the mountain, while Bonnar is somehow reaching another peak in his career — which makes it an ideal time for the two rivals to meet one last time, perhaps at the end of an Ultimate Fighter gig that would bring their lives full circle. At least, that’s how Bonnar sees it. Here’s what he told MMAJunkie Radio:


(Best frenemies forever.)

Through the majority of their parallel UFC careers, Stephan Bonnar has played second-banana to Forrest Griffin. The relationship started with Griffin’s career-launching win over Bonnar in their classic brawl at the first Ultimate Fighter finale in 2005; a rematch the following year resulted in the American Psycho going home with another decision loss and a steroid suspension. While Griffin was winning the UFC light-heavyweight title in 2008, Bonnar was on the sidelines due to injuries, and though Griffin occasionally ate a humiliating loss, Bonnar’s losses were even more embarrassing.

But lately, the two men have begun to shift trajectories. A not-quite-motivated Griffin suffered an ugly knockout against Mauricio Rua in Brazil last year, and is now booked in a relatively needless trilogy fight against Tito Ortiz in July. With Forrest in a holding pattern, Bonnar is now riding a three-fight win streak, with W’s over Krzysztof Soszynski, Igor Pokrajac, and Kyle Kingsbury. In other words, Griffin might be heading down the mountain, while Bonnar is somehow reaching another peak in his career — which makes it an ideal time for the two rivals to meet one last time, perhaps at the end of an Ultimate Fighter gig that would bring their lives full circle. At least, that’s how Bonnar sees it. Here’s what he told MMAJunkie Radio:

“Everyone out there please harass Dana White on Twitter to let me and Forrest coach the next season (of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’). If he does that, I can guarantee a barn-burning slugfest…I won’t go for any takedowns. I won’t block any punches. I’ll just be moving forward. I’m serious I would just go and slug it out and try to top our first one. What the hell do I have to lose? I want to give the fans a good one…I’ve had a couple nice technical wins now without much damage. But now I’m actually missing the damage…When you get into a couple of wars in a row, you’re like, ‘Screw this,’ but if we got to be coaches, I would be so thankful. I’d get hit a ton. I’ve ate plenty of his punches over the years.”

Promising to get hit in the face a lot is one of the most bizarre matchmaking pitches we’ve ever heard, and is perhaps evidence that Bonnar has already gotten hit in the face too many times as it is. But you can’t argue with the compelling symmetry of having the two light-heavyweight warriors coach against each other on the show that made them (and the UFC) famous seven years ago — and it seems like a perfect recipe to revive the interest in TUF.

Plus, let’s call a spade a spade, here: Griffin may be losing his edge in the cage, and Bonnar probably feels like he should pounce while he has some momentum, so he can balance out their rivalry. As Quinton Jackson demonstrated against Wanderlei Silva, the first two fights in a trilogy are just battles; the last fight truly decides the war.

Stephan Bonnar Wants to Coach ‘TUF 16? Against Forrest Griffin, Promises Not to Block Any Punches in Trilogy Fight


(Best frenemies forever.)

Through the majority of their parallel UFC careers, Stephan Bonnar has played second-banana to Forrest Griffin. The relationship started with Griffin’s career-launching win over Bonnar in their classic brawl at the first Ultimate Fighter finale in 2005; a rematch the following year resulted in the American Psycho going home with another decision loss and a steroid suspension. While Griffin was winning the UFC light-heavyweight title in 2008, Bonnar was on the sidelines due to injuries, and though Griffin occasionally ate a humiliating loss, Bonnar’s losses were even more embarrassing.

But lately, the two men have begun to shift trajectories. A not-quite-motivated Griffin suffered an ugly knockout against Mauricio Rua in Brazil last year, and is now booked in a relatively needless trilogy fight against Tito Ortiz in July. With Forrest in a holding pattern, Bonnar is now riding a three-fight win streak, with W’s over Krzysztof Soszynski, Igor Pokrajac, and Kyle Kingsbury. In other words, Griffin might be heading down the mountain, while Bonnar is somehow reaching another peak in his career — which makes it an ideal time for the two rivals to meet one last time, perhaps at the end of an Ultimate Fighter gig that would bring their lives full circle. At least, that’s how Bonnar sees it. Here’s what he told MMAJunkie Radio:


(Best frenemies forever.)

Through the majority of their parallel UFC careers, Stephan Bonnar has played second-banana to Forrest Griffin. The relationship started with Griffin’s career-launching win over Bonnar in their classic brawl at the first Ultimate Fighter finale in 2005; a rematch the following year resulted in the American Psycho going home with another decision loss and a steroid suspension. While Griffin was winning the UFC light-heavyweight title in 2008, Bonnar was on the sidelines due to injuries, and though Griffin occasionally ate a humiliating loss, Bonnar’s losses were even more embarrassing.

But lately, the two men have begun to shift trajectories. A not-quite-motivated Griffin suffered an ugly knockout against Mauricio Rua in Brazil last year, and is now booked in a relatively needless trilogy fight against Tito Ortiz in July. With Forrest in a holding pattern, Bonnar is now riding a three-fight win streak, with W’s over Krzysztof Soszynski, Igor Pokrajac, and Kyle Kingsbury. In other words, Griffin might be heading down the mountain, while Bonnar is somehow reaching another peak in his career — which makes it an ideal time for the two rivals to meet one last time, perhaps at the end of an Ultimate Fighter gig that would bring their lives full circle. At least, that’s how Bonnar sees it. Here’s what he told MMAJunkie Radio:

“Everyone out there please harass Dana White on Twitter to let me and Forrest coach the next season (of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’). If he does that, I can guarantee a barn-burning slugfest…I won’t go for any takedowns. I won’t block any punches. I’ll just be moving forward. I’m serious I would just go and slug it out and try to top our first one. What the hell do I have to lose? I want to give the fans a good one…I’ve had a couple nice technical wins now without much damage. But now I’m actually missing the damage…When you get into a couple of wars in a row, you’re like, ‘Screw this,’ but if we got to be coaches, I would be so thankful. I’d get hit a ton. I’ve ate plenty of his punches over the years.”

Promising to get hit in the face a lot is one of the most bizarre matchmaking pitches we’ve ever heard, and is perhaps evidence that Bonnar has already gotten hit in the face too many times as it is. But you can’t argue with the compelling symmetry of having the two light-heavyweight warriors coach against each other on the show that made them (and the UFC) famous seven years ago — and it seems like a perfect recipe to revive the interest in TUF.

Plus, let’s call a spade a spade, here: Griffin may be losing his edge in the cage, and Bonnar probably feels like he should pounce while he has some momentum, so he can balance out their rivalry. As Quinton Jackson demonstrated against Wanderlei Silva, the first two fights in a trilogy are just battles; the last fight truly decides the war.

53-Year-Old Man Fights on One-Hour Notice, Kicks Youngster’s Ass [VIDEO]

(Props: Wargo205 via ProMMANow)

It doesn’t matter how fancy things get at the top of the sport — MMA’s regional scene is still a chaotic mess where literally anything can happen. Case in point: At Fire Extreme Fighting’s show at the Kankakee Fair Grounds in Illinois on Saturday night, a 53-year-old spectator named Tim was asked if he’d come in as a replacement for a fighter who had dropped out at the last minute. Being in fair shape for his age, and open to new experiences, Tim agreed, and found himself staring down a 21-year-old opponent just an hour later.

You can check out the video above. When the dust settles on this one-round slobberknocker, Tim has won by TKO and we find out that the enthusiastic camera-person is none other than Stephan Bonnar. “You’re my hero! That was awesome!” Bonnar tells Tim, who’s a little too winded to walk us through the replay.

As for the 21-year-old who was left unconscious in a planked position? Details on him are scarce, but it’s very likely he didn’t get laid that night.


(Props: Wargo205 via ProMMANow)

It doesn’t matter how fancy things get at the top of the sport — MMA’s regional scene is still a chaotic mess where literally anything can happen. Case in point: At Fire Extreme Fighting’s show at the Kankakee Fair Grounds in Illinois on Saturday night, a 53-year-old spectator named Tim was asked if he’d come in as a replacement for a fighter who had dropped out at the last minute. Being in fair shape for his age, and open to new experiences, Tim agreed, and found himself staring down a 21-year-old opponent just an hour later.

You can check out the video above. When the dust settles on this one-round slobberknocker, Tim has won by TKO and we find out that the enthusiastic camera-person is none other than Stephan Bonnar. “You’re my hero! That was awesome!” Bonnar tells Tim, who’s a little too winded to walk us through the replay.

As for the 21-year-old who was left unconscious in a planked position? Details on him are scarce, but it’s very likely he didn’t get laid that night.