For the first time in almost three years, Stephan Bonnar has won inside the Octagon.Bonnar landed a brutal knee to Krzysztof Soszynski's head in the second round of their fight at UFC 116 Saturday night, then landed punch after punch after punch until the referee finally stopped the fight, giving Bonnar a technical knockout win at 3:08 of the second round.
Soszynski came out swinging in the early going, landing some punches as well as some hard leg kicks. Bonnar managed a takedown a minute into the first round, but Soszynski controlled Bonnar from his back before getting back up, and then went back to work on his feet. Although Bonnar did land some good kicks, it was Soszynski who got the better of the striking, opening cuts under both of Bonnar's eyes and twice making Bonnar turn his back to Soszynski to try to get away.
But in the second round Bonnar was relentless, taking several hard shots from Soszynski but shaking them all off and finally clinching with Soszynski against the cage and leveling him with that hard knee to the head.
Bonnar was bloodied and bruised afterward, but he was also happy and relieved to finally get a win.
"I like winning ugly," Bonnar said. "And boy do I look ugly right now."
Bonnar isn't a great fighter, but he'll always be remembered for his great fight with Forrest Griffin to cap the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, and he'll always have a place in the UFC because of that fight. And on Saturday night, he showed that he can still stand and bang his way to a win.
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