Some people were saying that they thought that the fight was stopped premature, I believe Bill felt this way as well.
Stephen Bonner looked great, in fact in the first exchange he caught Bill that made his body a little wobbaly but he appeared to recover right away after getting caught and went to take the fight to the ground. Hill even landed a few himself in the exchanges.
I think both guys are definetly solid fighters that night however I believe Bonner was the better fighter, in a rematch, who knows. Bill Hill is a guy has been fighting once a months now for a long time and every match he has had he has gotten noticibly better. Anytime he fights he has a shot at winning.
His next fight that I know of (he might have another one before then?) is against Terry Martin who is also tough as hell.
I am posting this as not to show any disrespect to either fighter as I truly do respect both of them.
I was tuly disappointed that I didn't get achance to go to this show. Making $$$ took precedence. I would pay to see a rematch whethter the stoppage was early or not and I am a more of a Bonnar fan.
bogart6868, actually sat ringside at the time of this fight I was running artound quite a bit and got to see it at a distence. SO in all honesty his opinion would be better than mine.
What event was this?
Total Martial Arts Challenge at the Hammond Civic Center last weekend, it was a good time. Bogart has got some great pics of the event, I saw some of the photos he took at the event.
Every time I've seen Bonnar fight, he's more or less dominated the standup, yet he's come a long way with his hands since his first fight.
And he's pretty much instantly finished his opponents once it hits the ground.
I think that a Bonnar -Terry Martin rematch is in the near future. I would love to see that fight at this stage of their carrers
Truer words were never spoke. Martin vs Bonnar II
will rock and rock hard, it will kick ass and dominate.
lol, excelent
but you forgot
Rock Over London
Rock On Chicago
Bonnar - Martin II whoops a mules ass!
Wesley!!!!!!!!
2 no shows in a row for paleili, hmmm.
i know vaughan personally, and one of my best college buddys is a long time friend of his also. just two shows in the last 8 months that he has no showed, that's all.
I talked to Goytia about this fight yesterday, if anyone in the Chicagoland area has a clue on how to put a video on the net get a hold of me. Joe will be in Florida for two weeks and when he gets back he is giving me a tape of the event that he said I could put on the net.
Mike
"It was my understanding that Bill Hill got caught up in the ropes and the stoppage was nonsense"
I was actually at that fight and if the ref didnt stop it when he did..Hill would have gotten hurt even worse. It looked to me like Hill was pretty dazed. Robocop hit him with a flurry and connected solidly. Hill looked pretty good at the beginning..but after he got tagged it went downhill fast.
If the fight hadn't been stopped when it was Hill would
have been KO'd. I'd have liked to see it go a second
or two longer just so this debate wouldn't be happening
but Robo was finishing it for sure. Robo looked a
little upset it was stopped before he could floor Hill.
Perceptions will always be subject to the individual's experience, preference and emotions. My perception of the match differs from some, parallels others. So be it. Bottom line, Kevin said to me, "I made my decision", when I protested the stoppage, I said, "okay, you're the ref, what you say goes". That is the nature of the sport, somebody will win and somebody will lose, and I would hope that we, (MMA athletes), always strive to exhibit good sportsmanship, regardless of our personal feelings as that is the only way to counter the negative stereotypes some hold of the sport.
As far as I'm concerned, thats the end of it. The match is over, whether I, or anyone else, likes it or not, Stephan was the better athlete and got the win. Again, thats just the nature of sport, but winning or losing can not become the pure motive in your athletic pursuit, compete because you love the test, winning or losing is just a part of the process.
I wish Stephan well in his next match on June 5th, he is a great athlete and I look forward to seeing him fight.
To the other athletes on the card, great show, every match was awesome and everybody went balls out.
Take care and train hard.
-Paul Sharp
sbg_il@hotmail.com
great post Paul.. attitudes like yours and your team can only help to make our sport better!
My photos of the Hill / Bonnar Fight along with the rest of the action is now up at Sherdog..
What about a green name for Paul Sharp?
The thing about Bill is that he had a good run of wins going and its too bad that it had to stop with Bonner. However, if you can remember what happened the last time Bill lost (Jeremy Horn) it seemed to change the entire way Bill fought as well as started his terror streak.
I might also add the Bill Hill is one of the few guys locally that is always begging for the bigger fight.
ttt