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24/02/10 - Bonnar to appeal Soszynski loss
Stephan Bonnar is to contest the result of his UFC 110 fight with Krzysztof Soszynski. The fight was stopped in the third round when the two clashed heads and Bonnar sustained a deep cut. Soszynski was awarded the win by TKO.
Bonnar believes that under the UFC rules, the fight should be ruled a draw. He told the Northwest Indiana Times that "It's only fair to get this overturned to a no contest or draw. In the rules, if after two rounds a fighter suffers a cut from an illegal blow, they go to the scorecard. The judges had it one round a piece, which would have made it a draw."
He also criticised referee John Sharp for failing to spot that the cut was caused by the clash of heads, even after Bonnar told him so and directed him to the replays being shown on the in-arena big screens.
"Right after (it) happened, I pointed to my head and told him, 'headbutt’. Why he didn't look up at the replay, which they showed about 30 times, I have no idea," Bonnar said, adding that Soszynski also acknowledged that the cut was from a head butt.
Describing Soszynski as “a good sport and a class act”, Bonnar said the Polish-Canadian was open to a rematch. An appeal will have to be lodged with the Combat Sports Authority, the New South Wales-based commission that covered UFC 110. The result could be overturned to a technical points draw if a protest was received and upheld.
If the decision is not overturned, it will be Bonnar’s third straight defeat in the UFC and put his organisation record at 5-6. But Bonnar is often said to have ‘a job for life’ with the UFC; company president Dana White credits the TUF 1 finale fight between Bonnar and Forrest Griffin with kickstarting the surge in the UFC’s fortunes.
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