Fighter Profile: Stephan Bonnar

Overall Record: 12-7

UFC Record: 6-6

Hometown: Hammond, IN

Height: 6’3” Weight: 205

Born: April 4, 1977

Stephan “The American Psycho” Bonnar is a seven-and-a-half year veteran of mixed martial arts, of which the last four plus years have been spent competing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The thirty-two year old Indiana native trains mostly with Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. He specializes in both boxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Before he became “The American Psycho,” Bonnar was a Chicago Golden Gloves boxer, something that has worked to his advantage in his future career. While transitioning into MMA Bonnar began training Jiu-Jitsu under the late Carlson Gracie. He also made many trips to the Southeastern Asian country of Thailand to work his Muay-Thai skills.

His first experience as a professional fighter was in 2001 while participating for the Ironheart Crown tournament. He used his above average ground skills to stop both Brian Ebersole and Josh Kruger with submissions to notch his first two career wins. Two months later, Bonnar appeared on the Ultimate Athlete card near his hometown at the Hammond Civic Center. By using his decorated Jiu-Jitsu, Bonnar was able to submit Jay Massey by Guillotine, making him the third consecutive opponent to do so.

In his most competitive bout of his career, Bonnar made a trip to Brazil to compete for Jungle Fight against Japanese-Brazilian karate expert, Lyoto Machida. Machida, who was only making his second career MMA fight, opened a cut on Bonnar’s face that was too severe for him to continue. Machida had dealt Bonnar his first career loss after only 4:21 of the 1st round. The loss still serves as the only fight he has lost due to a TKO or KO.

Fighting three more times in the minor-league circuit, Bonnar put together three straight wins against B-level competition. He would produce three more 1 st round stoppages against Brad Lynde, William Hill, and Sean Sallee, all within a period of eight months. He improved his record to an impressive six wins, all by 1st round stoppages, with only one loss.

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In early 2004 Bonnar became part of UFC history by earning a position on the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Bonnar breezed through his opponents on the reality show to face housemate Forrest Griffin at the finale. The two light-heavyweights put on one of most entertaining and important MMA bouts of all-time, standing and trading blows for three full rounds. At the end of the 3rd round there was no clear-cut winner so the decision was left up to the ringside judges, who awarded Forrest Griffin the six-figure contract with the UFC via unanimous decision. Though Griffin had persuaded the judges, UFC President, Dana White was convinced that Bonnar would be an asset to the company and awarded him a UFC contract as well.

Riding the confidence from “The Ultimate Fighter,” Bonnar would develop as a fighter by participating on the first Ultimate Fight Night event against fellow “TUF 1” light-heavy, Sam Hoger. He went three rounds with Hoger, this time he was on the winning side of a unanimous decision to earn his first official UFC victory. He would string together a three-fight win streak with wins over James Irvin (submission) and Keith Jardine (decision) at Ultimate Fight Night 3 and 4.

Quickly rising the 205 lb. ladder, Bonnar ran into some trouble in June of ’06 in the form of Rashad Evans. Evans and Bonnar fought evenly throughout the three round affair, both taking turns stunning their opponent, until Evans was deemed the winner by majority decision. The highly-anticipated rematch between Forrest Griffin and Bonnar would take place at UFC 62 in August ’06. The fight was not as entertaining as the original, but both fighters still fought with all heart. The result was the same, as Griffin won his second against his good friend with a unanimous decision, giving Bonnar his first two-fight losing streak in his career.

In his UFC 62 loss to Forrest, Bonnar not only lost his third career fight but also lost almost a years’ worth of training and fighting resulting from a positive test for an anabolic steroid. In all he would serve a nine month suspension and would have to pay a $5,000 fine to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Bonnar attributed the failed test to taking a steroid for help in aiding with an injury.

Bonnar returned to action in July ’07 at UFC 73 in impressive fashion by submitting Mike Nickels with a 1 st round rear naked choke. He continued his resurgence with a UFC 77 win, via TKO, against Eric “Red” Schafer. After stringing together two impressive victories, the injury bug would hit again, this time keeping Bonnar out for fifteen months. He returned, showing ring rust, against rising star, Jon “Bones” Jones at UFC 94 in January ’09. Jones confused Bonnar for three rounds, using unorthodox striking techniques to score points on his way to a unanimous decision win.

“The American Psycho” will attempt to rebound once again, this time against UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman at UFC 100 on July 11th. Coleman is also trying to reclaim his winning ways after suffering a 3rd round TKO loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 93. The winner of this undercard bout should make a significant move upwards on the UFC Light Heavyweight depth chart.

Recent Stephan Bonnar MMA News:

• Lost to Mark Coleman by Unanimous Decision at UFC 100 on July 11, 2009 - UFC 100 results

• Lost to Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 110 by TKO in Sydney, Australia on February 20, 2010 - UFC 110 results

• Defeated Krzysztof Soszynski by TKO at UFC 116 on July 3, 2010 in Las Vegas, NV - UFC 116 results

By Nick Russell
ProFighting-fans.com Staff Writer
Published June 2009