Kyle Kingsbury is a light heavyweight star in the making. There’s no doubting that. A first rate athlete who played football at Arizona State, Kingsbury had a strong run on “The Ultimate Fighter”. While watching the reality show you could tell that he had all the tools to become a top fighter but just needed the proper coaching and seasoning to get there. Now on a four fight winning streak, Kingsbury needs a step up in competition and is getting just that when he faces Stephan Bonnar, a man who’s taken less and done more with it than nearly any fighter in the light heavyweight division.
Both guys come into this fight on the verge of becoming a fringe contender but needing one victory to put them over the top. Kingsbury has his four fight winning streak and Bonnar is on a two fight win streak of his own. With a win either man looks to get someone close to contending for a title shot and both know it; and they’re both fairly similar fighters as well.
The difference between the two is that Kingsbury has the sort of athletic ability Bonnar really would need to become a top fighter. Bonnar has taken mediocre athletic ability and meshed it with an ability to take punishment that is nearly second to none. Add aa monster heart and he’s been able to spin it into a near permanent spot on the roster. Bonnar is the first rung of gatekeepers on the UFC roster; beating him usually means you’re on the way up to becoming a serious contender.
That’s where Kingsbury comes in. He’s a tremendous athlete but still hasn’t quite put the combination together to become a great fighter yet. He has remarkable athleticism, and he’s really starting to blossom under the AKA banner, but hasn’t quite put everything all together yet.Kingsbury has gotten crisper in how he strikes with each fight and his ground game has gotten better in strides, as well, so you can attribute it to his time at AKA being very well spent so far. But just how far Kingsbury has progressed will be show by this fight. If he’s progressed and gotten better he should be able to defeat Bonnar. If not, back to the Facebook prelims for him.
Expect Kingsbury to match Bonnar in a brawl, as “The Ultimate Fighter” runner up has a tendency to drag everyone he fights into one. Out of all the fights on this card, this might be the one that turns into the sort of violent three round brawls that get named Fight of the Night and steal the show.
