Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Stephan Bonnar In The Works for UFC 110 in Australia
A light heavyweight matchup between Krzysztof Soszynski and Stephan Bonnar is in the works for UFC 110 on February 21 in Sydney, Australia and is expected to be finalized soon, according to MMA Weekly.
Soszynski (18-9-1), a semifinalist on The Ultimate Fighter 8, had won three-straight in the UFC over Shane Primm, Brian Stann, and Andre Gusmao before falling to Brandon Vera in his most-recent bout in August.
Bonnar (11-6), the runner-up on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, is 5-5 in the UFC, losing back-to-back fights to Jon Jones and Mark Coleman in 2009.
UFC 110, which has yet to be officially announced, is also expected to feature Wanderlei Silva vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Ben Rothwell.
For the latest UFC 110 rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.
Pictured: Krzysztof Soszynski
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I think Mr Soszynski has one of the most bizarre nicknames i’ve ever heard. What does the polish experiment mean? Does it refer to his polished bald head, or his polished fighting skills which in my opinion are not that polished at all.
…woooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww
Are you kidding me? polished? His families backround is polish.(from the country Poland)His name has nothing to do with his head.
wow that just made my day….
im polish and not sure if i should take that offensivley or not
lmao
jpmm…
you silly twit…it’s Polish, as in he is from Poland…hence the 423 consonants and 2 vowels in his name. as for polish, maybe you should ‘polish’ up on your MMA knowledge, or lack thereof…No personal attacks. -Justin
FYI….He used to be a pro wrestler with the name “The Polish Monster”
imo yet another bad matchup for bonnar. krystof seems to get more dangerous and come to fight in better shape every time we see him, and i dont think that bonnar really has the skills to nullify his style. krystofs hard fought loss to vera will be a lesson learned.
How many consecutive losses will it take before Bonnar is let go? I know Dana keeps saying he is like one of his kids, and helped make the UFC what it is today and all that jazz but let’s be honest a 5-5 UFC record with some very lack luster performances. I think it’s safe to say Bonnar has gone about as far in the sport as he can go at this point.
Dana has said that Bonnar and Griffin will forever have a job with the UFC.
Okay, better question then would be…. how long until Bonnar is taken off the main card and put on the prelims? I mean, seriously… As the expression goes, “What have you done for me lately?” I’m getting a little tired of some of the TUF alumni when there are so many young fighters working their way up and just dieing for a chance to showcase their talent on the big stage. Bonnar has not improved his skill over the years. He’s not getting better. I’m tired of seeing him lose decisions. That’s all.
“how long until Bonnar is taken off the main card and put on the prelims?”
Bonnar wasn’t on the main card in his last bout. And who said this fight would be?
Markus J, he (bonnar) has been taken off the main card …. ufc 100 he fought on the prelims against mark coleman… remember??
i defiantly agree he should not be on the main cards anymore
Send Bonnar packin. I hate to say it but the only fight he’s put on a show was the Forrest fight an every time I see him get beat It makes that fight even more distant a memory.
He!! he could make the Strikeforce roster a lil deeper. JK
See my above comment.
lol
HAHA!…the “polish” experiment! Classic…
I always wondered why he was so friendly with Michael Buffer.
Best joke I’ve ever had on this site, and I wrote Michael instead of Bruce…still not a single response! You guys are killing me.
get it…
polish……
Buffer………..
ugh.
this is a great fight for both fighters who are well known in the ufc. I thought bonnar was dropping to 185? Guess not now. I say bonnar is the more well rounded fighter who has more ways of winning the fight. He just has to control himself mentally because imo that seems to be his biggest obstacle since his coach died. No offense to coleman, but bonnar should have won that fight.
If bonnar wins this fight he should seriously consider dropping to 185 and get a fresh start. Also, he is in a division that has fighters way above his skillset so he should just give it a go @ 185.
Polish experiment?
That was a joke, right?
On a more serious note, I think this is a bad fight for Bonnar, a fighter who has never seemed to mentally and emotionally recover from the loss of his mentor, Carlson Gracie.
Since Gracie’s passing, Bonnar has posted a 2-4 record, most recently inexplicably losing to Mark Coleman.
Also, after the whole PED issue, I would have thought that common sense would have dictated that Bonnar drop to 185, where IMO he would get a lot more traction than he would hanging at the UFC’s most stacked weightclass.
Personally, I think whether Bonnar wins or loses, he should hit up Dana about dropping to 185. After all, with Hendo allegedly heading to Strikeforce, and Anderson Silva reportedly heading out to the MMA retirement village in about 6 months, things at 185 are about to get very interesting, especially if Rich Franklin decided to drop back down to that weight.
Bonnar-Franklin at 185, or 205 for that matter, could be an awesome fight.
Sometimes we forget, but I suggest casual frenZiers do their research on Bonnar before dismissing him so quickly. He has an assortment of impressive credentials in Western boxing, Thai boxing, and black belts in BJJ and tae kwon do. He’s also been in with some of the top 205ers in MMA like Evans, Griffin, Machida, and Jardine.
In another org, Bonnar would be wearing gold, so maybe we should keep that in mind before posting nonsensical sh!t like, “Bonnar should be cut” or whatever…
In a recent interview Bonnar commented on how he wants to fight someone who will stand and trade with him and not LnP which I guess he thought was the Hammers entire gameplan. I think he got what he asked for in Krystoff. Not that he is a pure slugger but he doesnt seem afraid to throw a few before he locks up that kimura.
Should be good fight.
And that’s what I don’t like about MMA these days. Fighters asking for and picking their fights. This isn’t K1 or any other kicking boxing promotion. It’s MMA. Mixed Martial Arts. Bonnar should probably spend more time training other aspects of the sport like his wrestling and jitz so he can compete against the better, well rounded fighters, who are picking apart his glaring weaknesses and beating him soundly. So is he going to keep asking Dana for stand up guys for the rest of his career? Which according to Dana will be forever. I don’t think so. If you want to box, go box elsewhere.
This sport is great because of it’s versatility and dynamics. There are so many talented, young, gifted fighters coming up who are spending their life training all aspects of the sport. These are the guys I want to see fight. Not the one trick ponies who refuse to get better or adapt.
“better, well rounded fighters” like Mark Coleman, who has terrible stand up and is basically a one dimensional wrestler…. that makes a lot of sense.
Soszynski is more inclined to stand up, but he showed against Stann that he also won’t hesitate to take the fight down and look for the sub.
Justin, you just proved my point about Bonnar. He can’t beat an aging, one dimensional, past his prime fighter like, Coleman. That’s pathetic. This is MMA. He can’t fight strictly stand-up guys the rest of his career, he needs to get better or get lost. Bottom-line. Stop asking for stand-up guys and learn MMA. He’s been around since this sport went mainstream, you’d figure he’d have learned something by now.
I never said Coleman specifically was a well rounded fighter (he’s not) but he definitely was a better fighter in his fight against Bonnar, thus why he beat him. That’s not saying much about Bonnar.
Thanks for your enlightening reply though and making sense of things lol.
Jesus.
Bonnar is a “one trick pony”?
Are you sure you understand what that means, exactly?
In addition to Bonnar having outstanding credentials in Golden Gloves boxing, Thai boxing, and a black belt in tae kwon do, he also has a blackbelt in BJJ under Carlson Gracie.
In what way does that make him one dimensional??
The only MMA “dimension” Bonnar is lacking cement credentials in is freestyle and/or Greco-Roman wrestling.
And exactly how much more “training jitz” do you think he needs, in your “considered” opinion, after earning a purple belt under Gracie HIMSELF, and then earning a black after Gracie’s death?
Fact:
Bonnar has won 7 fights by submission, 2 fights by ref stoppage, and 2 fights by decision.
How the He11 does that even remotely resemble the mark of a “one trick pony”?
He PREFERS a stand-up fight, because most of the fans do, and he realizes that MMA is not just a sport, but a BUSINESS, and in order to do business, and make serious coin, you need to give the fans and your employer what they are looking for, namely a throwdown, and not a submission grappling match.
Also, after Saturday night’s spoon-fest between Shields and Mayhem, I would think that more fighters are going to be asking for opponents who aren’t looking to turn MMA fights into Grappler’s Quest matches, regardless of what promotion they work for.
Disrespecting Stephan Bonnar and getting snarky with Justin H won’t do much for you if you’re hoping to gain some cred and traction here at the frenZy.
Think about it…
Oh, I am not trying to gain credit with the handful of posters here who think they are better than everyone else. Infact I couldn’t care less about this particular, often disrespectful, narrow minded group..
Now back to the topic at hand, as I don’t care to fall into the mud slinging and insults game I witness so often on here.
Fact: Stephan Bonnar has one 2 fights by way of submission since joining the UFC, one by TKO and two by judges decisions.
Fact: Stephan Bonnar has a not so impressive UFC record of 5 wins and 5 losses. Of which all 5 losses have come by the way of decision.
Fact: He was out wrestled and manhandled by a 44 year old, past his prime, Mark Coleman.
To say he prefers a stand-up game is one thing, but what did he expect going into a fight with Mark Coleman, an Olympic and NCAA wrestler? For a black belt in jujitsu he sure didn’t muster up much of a game-plan on the ground vs a wrestler who is often more susceptible to submissions.
As for his fights with Forrest, Rashad and Jones… his striking was inferior. He does throw some flashy kicks here and there but all in all it seems he is content on letting his fights go to the judges score card. He doesn’t have that killer instinct to finish off fights.
I often here fighters say they try to keep it standing to please the crowd, but I am not fully buying that excuse for a loss. The pay day is often double if you win your fight, if not more. This is a job and they should be doing whatever it takes to win, and if that means going to the ground, you take it to the ground.
I guess my point on Bonnar and what has rubbed me the wrong way, is his formal request to fight a guy who will stand with him and using his ties with Dana to remain on main event status when I don’t feel he belongs there. Again, this is MMA. These guys should be willing to take on all challengers and not just looking for one particular fight style match up.
Lastly, as for your description of the Mayhem vs Shields fight calling it a “spoon-fest” I actually thought you had a little more respect for MMA than that. You seem to be a fairly knowledgeable poster here. This was a tremendous fight! This was my second favourite fight of the night. I know most casual fans like stand-up knock em out fights more, however this fight showcased two great submission/jitz fighters who did not disappoint. The rolling, the reversals and the near submissions were endless. This fight actually got better in the later rounds as both fighters came on stronger. Not like watching two gassed heavyweight fighters huff and puff and swing wildly in only the 2nd round of a fight. Great fight!
Anywhoo, sorry for making it so long! =)
Markus,
I get what you’re saying about not wanting to see fighters be able to request a certain style of fighter that matches up with them better, and wanting fighters to be more well rounded, especially if a fighter is more inclined to be a stand up fighter. I also get that you obviously don’t think highly of Stephan Bonnar, and would rather him be unemployed than fighting for the UFC.
It is my personal opinion (which is obviously contradictory to yours) that since he (and Griffin) played a pivotal role in perhaps the most important fight in UFC history, since Royce Gracie won UFC 1, that they have every right to continue to look out for the man that helped make them what they are today. Styles make fights, and why not give the guy a chance to put on entertaining fights against someone else who is arguably not going to make much of an impact on the division either (Soszynski). Stick it on the undercard, which they are likely to do, and give the fans that paid to get in the door and showed up early a good entertaining fight. Which is, in the end, what they are there for, to be entertained.
It’s also good to keep guys like Bonnar (who is a known commodity) around so that you can test your new comers, if they can’t get past Bonnar, then they have no chance in the shark tank of the UFC LHW division.
As far as your comments about “this particular, often disrespectful, narrow minded group” and “the mud slinging and insults game I witness so often on here.” We try to keep the disrespect, mud slinging and insults to a minimum. If you feel like someone is engaging in personal attacks, then you should contact myself or one of the other moderators via personal message through the website messaging system. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then perhaps you should register with the site.
Justin,
Thanks for a reply like that. I guess I just get a little irked when people comment to other posters the way they often do on here. The comments like “you’re an idiot” and “I’m a real fighter and you don’t know anything” or “get off of here, you are not frenzy worthy” make for a very unwelcoming and disrespectful environment at times. And these aren’t coming from trolls as far as I can tell, mostly regular posters. I mean in the UFC 105 discussion thread alone I was told to “shut up” by a regular, because I felt it was a rather weak card compared to recent events held and by UFC standards. Just an example. Sorry if you felt I disrespected you in either of my previous posts. I may have over reacted to the original reply. My bad.
With that being said. Thank you, I registered. =) Was always wondering how to get an image of my own. Once I get my auth email I will forgo discussing private matters on here and message the right people, yourself included, privately.
As far as Bonnar goes. Let me say, I don’t hate him. Not a huge fan (think hes overrated), but I’ll still watch his fights. It’s the fact he is requesting opponents. I reacted similar on here to Anderson Silva when he was helping pick and choose his opponents earlier this year. It just really ticks me off. Champion or no champion, you shouldn’t get to choose who you will fight or who you won’t fight (ie. Machida, Dan and Nate). Warriors don’t pick their battles. Let Dana and Joe do that.
As far as one dimensional fighters go, my favorite fighter still to this day is Wanderlei Silva. So guess I would be the biggest hypocrite of all if I bashed all one dimensional fighters. Wanderlei will fight anyone and everyone though at whatever weight class, whenever you tell him to fight. I love him because of his work ethic and his killer instinct. Wanderlei truly wants to please the fans and knock someones head off or have his knocked off. Not go to a decision. How could you not like that? Bonnar seems to want to find someone who won’t out wrestle him and content at going to a decision again and again. Again, just my opinion.
I totally agree with you though. He did help revolutionize the sport and his fights with Griffin were epic. So for that, if you want to throw him on the under-card and give him an opponent that can help showcase his skills, I am all for it.
Thanks again for taking the time to respond!
Cheers
Glad you registered and that I could be of assistance in that regard, and I’m glad that we found some common ground on Bonnar.
Cheers.