Cnn
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Stephan Bonnar, the Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Famer who popularized the sport in the latter part of the first season of the reality show The Ultimate Fighter, died on Thursday, the mixed martial arts promoter announced Saturday.
Bonnar died of “suspected heart complications while on the job,” the UFC said in a news release. He was 45 years old.
“Stephan Bonnar was one of the most important fighters to ever compete in the Octagon,” UFC President Dana White said in the press release. “His fight with Forrest Griffin changed the sport forever and will never be forgotten. The fans loved him, they were related to him and he always gave his all. We will miss him.
Bonnar’s light heavyweight three-round final bout against Forrest Griffin in Las Vegas in 2005 saved the fledgling UFC and paved the way for the sport’s popularity today. The fight will take place in the company’s Fighting Wing Hall of Fame, which recognizes “the greatest, most memorable and most historically significant UFC fights.”
Griffin won the epic fight and earned a UFC contract. But the promotion also landed Bonnar a contract.
“I knew during the fight it had been a good fight,” Bonnar said later, according to the press release. “It hit me when everyone started stamping their feet and it felt like the whole place was shaking. And that was in the second round. I was like, ‘Oooh, that must be good.'”
“Everything has changed. I didn’t think I was going to have a career in the UFC,” he continued. “It was just a little hobby that I did, so it changed everything. I became like a celebrity almost overnight. Everywhere I went someone recognized me, even in unfamiliar places.”
Known as “The American Psycho,” Bonnar fought Hall of Famers such as Jon Jones, Rashad Evans, Anderson Silva, and Tito Ortiz during his seven-year career at light heavyweight.
The Hammond, Indiana native finished with a 17-9 UFC record, defeating fighters like Krzysztof Soszynski, Igor Pokrajac and James Irvin.
