UFC Supportive of Bonnar Appeal

Stephan Bonnar will appeal his controversial technical knockout loss to Krzysztof Soszynski from UFC 110 “Nogueira vs. Velasquez” on Feb. 20 at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia, according to UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner.

The preliminary light heavyweight bout ended in a doctor’s stoppage 64 seconds into round three, after an inadvertent clash of heads split open Bonnar. Australian referee John Sharp ruled the cut had been caused by a legal strike, though replays appeared to show otherwise. Ratner said the final decision on Bonnar’s appeal lies solely with the New South Wales Combat Sports Authority, which regulated the event.

“It’s their commission,” he said. “They have a real commission. I’m going to help Stephan any way I can, but it’s their decision. The referee was asked if it was a head butt, and he said it was a strike or a punch. From his position, he did not see the head butt.”

Bonnar pressed on for some time after the cut. Drenched in blood, he was visibly upset with the cage-side doctor’s decision to halt the contest, which ultimately ended in his third consecutive defeat. Should the New South Wales Combat Sports Authority grant “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 1 runner-up’s appeal, changing the result from a loss to a no contest seems the most likely outcome.

“I understand the rules very well. I helped write them,” Ratner said. “The mistake that people are making is that this fight did not end on the accidental head butt. The judges would have had to score that [third] round, a partial round, and come to a technical decision. At the end of two rounds, it was a majority draw, but there was a lot of action in the first minute [of the third round]. No one can say how they would have scored it.”

Neither Bonnar -- who remains in Sydney -- nor representatives from the New South Wales Combat Sports Authority were immediately available for comment.