STEPHAN BONNAR 1977 - 2022

The world lost one of MMA’s pioneers on Christmas eve 2022. Stephan Bonnar, one of two reasons (the other being Forrest Griffin) that the UFC was able to secure a second season of Tuf and a new contract with Spike TV.
On April 9th 2005 Spike aired season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter Finale which featured the Light Heavyweight Final between Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin. You’ve all heard the story, after round 1 the Ratings soared so high that the President of Spike TV took Dana White in a back hallway and signed a new deal right then and there and thus the UFC’s rise to legitimacy began. Bonnar ultimately lost the bout via Unanimous Decision. He was awarded a six figure contract anyway and became a mainstay in the UFC and a guy who was never in a boring fight.
Stephan Headlined UFC 154 against one of the all time greats Anderson SIlva. A bout he lost by TKO at the end of round 1. Bonnar was also in the Octagon w/ another great Jon Jones who he fought to a decison loss. He also was featured on the UFC 100 card against UFC Legend Mark Coleman. He holds wins over Brian Ebersole, Keith Jardine, Kyle Kingsbury, James Irvin, Krzysztof Soszynski among others and finished his UFC run w/ a 9-7 record and 16 action packed fights.
He is also a member of the UFC Hall of Fame w/ his fight against Griffin in the “Fight Wing” class of 2013.
He finished his career with a high profile bout against “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz in a bellator Main event on November 15th, 2014.
The UFC and fight game will not be the same w/out “The American Psycho”.
RIP 1977 - 2022