SAN JOSE, Calif. - It's rare for Stephan Bonnar to leave the Octagon with almost no damage on his face, but he did it tonight and picked up an easy win.
The brawler turned tactician tonight and grounded Kyle Kingsbury for close to 14 minutes on his way to an easy unanimous decision victory, 30-27, 30-27 and 30-25 on the scorecards.
Bonnar yelled "sorry" to the crowd to respond to some booing. Frankly, for a guy many fans thought was close to the end three fights ago, he didn't owe anyone an apology. He ran a ground clinic on Kingsbury.
"I'm not used to fans booing during my fights, but it's hard to get wins in here," Bonnar told UFC analyst Joe Rogan. "I had good control of the fight on the ground. I didn't want to risk it, go all out and make a mistake."
Bonnar's plan as always was to go the rock'em, sock'em route, but the takedowns were so easy he switched up his game plan.
The first round was unfolding as a slugfest as the fighters threw heavy shots at one another and it got even more heated along the cage in the clinch. But with 1:55 left, Kingsbury, trying to control Bonnar's head, was taken down. It was evident the former Arizona State defensive lineman was helpless on his back. Bonnar took him down again one minute into the second and 35 seconds into the third.
On the ground, he quickly moved to side control and rotated from side-to-side. He landed dozens of small punches, but never went for broke with a submission attempt. The crowd may have thought the fight lacked action, but Kingsbury's face showed a lot of damage.
"I was trying to submit him and he was defending well. So you have to take what you can get in here. Wins are hard to come by. Everyone is tough."
Bonnar (14-7, 8-5 UFC) appeared to be on his last legs when he lost at UFC 110, but he's now reeled off three straight wins.
"I just got my ass kicked in front of the hometown crowd. It sucks. I got a great camp, great coaches and great teammates," Kingsbury said. "I'll get back on top. I'm going to get right back into the gym and focus on fixing things that didn't go so well tonight."
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