UFC 139: Stephan Bonnar vs. Kyle Kingsbury Breakdown and Prediction

Stephan Bonnar will make his 2011 UFC debut against Kyle Kingsbury on the UFC 139 fight card tonight in what could be a great first fight to lead off the main card.

Bonnar is coming off of two straight wins over guys whose names would win you your average spelling bee—Igor Pokrajac and Krzysztof Soszynski. Before that though Bonnar was on a three fight losing streak.

On the ground I have to give the edge to Bonnar who is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Bonnar also holds seven wins via submission. I think his black belt holds him higher than Kingsbury wrestling background.

Standing wise though I have to pick Kingsbury who has some pretty solid Muay Thai. Kingsbury has a great clinch and will most likely try and work that early to wear out Bonnar.

Kingsbury was able to survive Maldonado in his last fight in the cage and I think if he can survive Maldonado's body shots and punches, he will be able to survive Bonnar.

The big thing here though is Kingsbury does tend to disappear as the fight goes on. If Bonnar is able to get the fight to the ground later on he could definitely steal a round or two away from Kingsbury.

Kingsbury is riding a four fight win streak with two "Fight of the Night" awards in that time and could most certainly earn a third tonight against Bonnar.

I think early on this will be an epic slugfest between the two and whoever can survive that will go on to win. I think during that slugfest though Kingsbury will be working Bonnar—especially in the clinch—and that will lead to a more worn down Bonnar who hasn't fought in almost a year.

Kingsbury by unanimous decision

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