Ben Bonner stunned the Texas crowd on Saturday evening with an emphatic unanimous decision victory over Tony Soto to claim the interim BKFC lightweight championship of the world. The man from Middlesborough dropped the American twice on route to the biggest victory of his career to date.
Eight days notice? No Problem!
Bonner stepped in on just eight days notice after the withdrawal from the now former champion Franco Tenaglia due to visa issues. The title was stripped from the Argentine down to taking two fights under a Spanish MMA promotion recently and regarding the matter BKFC president Dave Feldman said:
“I understand why he couldn’t get a visa to get here to United States. That’s not why he got stripped of the title,” Feldman said of Tenaglia at the BKFC post-fight press conference.
“In the interim, he had to make money. He took an MMA fight outside the organization—that doesn’t happen with us,” Feldman continued.
“If you fight outside the organization, you’re gonna lose your championship.
“I think another champion might have done that in the interim too. I’m not gonna call it out right now, but I have to do a little research, and I think that they’re gonna lose their title too.
“We’re not playing games here,” Feldman added.
“If we wanna be the biggest and the best, we have to act like we’re the biggest and the best. We have to perform like we’re the biggest and the best, and we have to hold people to the standards. And that’s just the way it is.”
Why Wasn’t The Undisputed Title On The Line For Bonner vs Soto?
“David Feldman had said a four-man tournament, the [undisputed] title is gonna be on the line in the four-man tournament, half a million pound tournament I think it was,” Bonner told media in the post-fight press conference.
“I’ve just submitted my spot in that tournament.
“I’m the interim champion now which means I’m the f—— baddest man on the planet in the world at 155.
“And when we go into this four-man tournament, I’m gonna wipe the other three clean out. Make no mistake about that. I’ll be on a full camp, prepared and ready for war as I always am,” Bonner said.
Statement Made!
Bonner was a massive underdog with the bookmakers heading into the interim title fight but warned everybody in the build up of his power and that he would surprise his counterpart, to which he did instantly with the first knockdown of the fight coming inside the first 40 seconds. A further knockdown in the following round stunned Soto who knew he’d be chasing the fight from that point.
A bloody three round war followed which matched the intensity of the big crowd at the sold out, 14,000 Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. An ecstatic Bonner fought brilliantly was right about his power being a factor and aswell as acknowledging Soto as the toughest man he’s ever been in with he said in the ring post fight “Listen, when we all start in boxing and move into bare knuckle we wanna achieve this, a world championship, that’s the pinnacle of the sport, the highest of mountains and tonight I achieved that!”
Now the UK has another world champion in the BKFC in Ben Bonner hopefully more notice will be taken and the growth will continue in the UK as it has in the U.S. leading to bigger arenas shows with high stakes contests.
BKFC 76 Results
