Stephan Bonnar is slowly making the climb back toward respectability. A close loser in the finale of the initial "Ultimate Fighter," Bonnar never reached the heights of his nemesis Forrest Griffin. And after losing three straight fights from 2009 into early 2010, Bonnar appeared to be on the verge of walking away from the sport. He stuck with it, rebounding nicely with a win over Krzysztof Soszynski. Tonight he rolled past Igor Pokrajac via unanimous decision, 29-26 on all cards, in the co-main event of "The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale" in Las Vegas.
Bonnar, 33, was in excellent shape and fought hard the entire way against a very game Pokrajac. He did most of his damage on the ground. Working from full guard, half guard and side control throughout the fight, Bonnar landed some nasty body shots.
Bonnar (13-7, 7-6 UFC) took a little damage under his left eye. The fight was only standing with distance between the fighters for a few minutes. Pokrajac actually landed some good shots in those situations.
He also cut Bonnar, but apparently did so when he landed two illegal knees on Bonnar's head. Pokrajac was on his back in the second, with Bonnar in north-south position. Pokrajac threw the knees without really seeing where they were going to land. Referee Steve Mazzagatti took away a point between the second and third rounds.
The fight ended with an odd scenario. Bonnar was pounding away at Pokrajac on the ground and landed two punches to the back of the Croatian's head. Mazzagatti tried to stop the fight with one second left, but the horn sounded. He proceeded to take away a point from Bonnar, resulting in the bizarre 29-26 scores.
Pokrajac (22-8, 1-3 UFC), a training partner of MMA legend Mirko Filipovic, has lost three of four fights with the promotion.
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