RIP Stephan Bonnar

[Gus Richlen Was Wrong]

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

RIP

It can't be underestimated how important the fight him and Griffin had

[XIII]

Seems to be heart complications. He fought during the heavy steroid years, so hopefully it wasn’t related to that. RIP regardless, he seemed like a good dude from what I’ve seen over the years. Damn.

[Jacy Derangement Syndrome]

Horrible, RIP

Besides the fight with Forrest, I'll always remember dude's utterly absurd Bellator fight with Tito Ortiz where the build-up was the most worked shit ever. Stephan literally led a mystery masked man to the cage for a faceoff with Tito and unmasked the dude to reveal that it was Justin McCully, an ex-friend of Tito and a guy you would have had to have been DEEP in to MMA to even sorta recognize. Then they had a damn pull apart brawl about it. 

[LiamMcDuggle]

ah man, i still remember watching that TUF finale and just being amazed by his heart

[sfvega]

Damn, I always really liked Bonnar. People always talked about Griffin later on being such a likable guy, but watching that first season, Bonnar came off as a great guy. Forrest just came off as a goofball. But became more of a lovable goofball over the years, with the fantastic Anderson Silva story. The UFC was growing quite a bit at the time, but having that fight be SO good on free TV and doing an amazing rating really threw a ton of gas on the fire, and rightfully is revered for growing the sport. Stephan had a very good career and was a good announcer to boot. That Showtime Pettis "up the wall like a ninja" call is one of the best of all time. For his seemingly underwhelming resumé, he had one hell of a career.

[XIII]

Dec 24, 2022 19:21:37 GMT -5 Jacy Derangement Syndrome said:

Horrible, RIP

Besides the fight with Forrest, I'll always remember dude's utterly absurd Bellator fight with Tito Ortiz where the build-up was the most worked shit ever. Stephan literally led a mystery masked man to the cage for a faceoff with Tito and unmasked the dude to reveal that it was Justin McCully, an ex-friend of Tito and a guy you would have had to have been DEEP in to MMA to even sorta recognize. Then they had a damn pull apart brawl about it. 

LMAO. I had forgotten about that nonsense. 

[1 Free Moon-Down with Burger]

Dec 24, 2022 19:21:37 GMT -5 Jacy Derangement Syndrome said:

Horrible, RIP

Besides the fight with Forrest, I'll always remember dude's utterly absurd Bellator fight with Tito Ortiz where the build-up was the most worked shit ever. Stephan literally led a mystery masked man to the cage for a faceoff with Tito and unmasked the dude to reveal that it was Justin McCully, an ex-friend of Tito and a guy you would have had to have been DEEP in to MMA to even sorta recognize. Then they had a damn pull apart brawl about it. 

FLUSHED HIM DOWN LIKE A TURD.

Man. Bless that guy.

[simplydurhamcalling]

I think I caught the Griffin fight on a random replay sometime and it was the first time I sat and watched a full fight, totally hooked me in and piqued my interest in UFC at the time. Can't pretend to have followed his career much since then but that's no age to die, thoughts are with his friends and family.

[bluebeach25]

Horrible. RIP i just watched his fight against Jones yesterday it really hit me hard when i wrote it like 2 hours ago.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Damn... his match with Griffin was the best fight is ever seen.

Rest in peace, sir.

[moonpies88]

R.I.P.

[Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster]

Dec 24, 2022 19:01:16 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

RIP

It can't be underestimated how important the fight him and Griffin had

Yeah, that fight pretty much saved the UFC.

R.I.P

[Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster]

Dec 24, 2022 19:07:38 GMT -5 XIII said:

Seems to be heart complications. He fought during the heavy steroid years, so hopefully it wasn’t related to that. RIP regardless, he seemed like a good dude from what I’ve seen over the years. Damn.

I think it would be more likely due to opioids and alcohol.

His life was a total mess once his MMA career was done.

[1 Free Moon-Down with Burger]

Dec 26, 2022 19:30:29 GMT -5 Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster said:

Dec 24, 2022 19:07:38 GMT -5 XIII said:

Seems to be heart complications. He fought during the heavy steroid years, so hopefully it wasn’t related to that. RIP regardless, he seemed like a good dude from what I’ve seen over the years. Damn.

I think it would be more likely due to opioids and alcohol.

His life was a total mess once his MMA career was done.

Oh yeah and he was wrestling here and there and hurt his back pretty bad. There’s a few sad videos of him yelling at hospital staffers for not giving him pain medication

[Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster]

Well his cause of death has been revealed as an accidental fentanyl overdose.....

UFC Hall of Famer Stephan Bonnar’s death late last year was a result of an accidental fentanyl overdose.

The Clark County (Nev.) coroner’s office informed MMAFighting.com via email that Bonnar’s death was a result of “Fentanyl, Parafluorofentanyl and Mitragynine intoxication.” Bonnar died on Dec. 22 at 45 years old. Further details regarding Bonnar’s death were not available due to medical privacy laws.

According to DEA.gov, fentanyl is a “potent synthetic opioid drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as an analgesic (pain relief) and anesthetic. It is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as an analgesic.” Fentanyl has been linked to numerous overdoses in the United States and is currently a focal point of the country’s opioid crisis.

The UFC initially announced Bonnar’s passing in a statement, adding that the cause of death was “presumed heart complications while at work.”

Bonnar is perhaps best known was his time on “The Ultimate Fighter 1,” where he reached the finals of the reality show and received a UFC contract after losing a unanimous decision to Forrest Griffin in a memorable clash on April 9, 2005. That bout was later enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame’s “Fight Wing.”

That led to a seven-year career with the Las Vegas-based promotion that saw “The American Psycho” compile an 8-7 mark in the Octagon. He earned wins over the likes of Keith Jardine, James Irvin and Krzysztof Soszynski and also squared off against noteworthy foes such as Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Mark Coleman and Rashad Evans.

Bonnar initially announced his retirement following a loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 153 in October 2012, but he made a brief return to MMA two years later, falling to Tito Ortiz via split decision at Bellator 131 on Nov. 15, 2014.

[fw91]

f***ing fentanyl.