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<\/p>\n\u201cHe was a very dangerous opponent, so there was a lot leading up to this fight. It was the next step, so after this, a lot of fights are going to be leading to either going after a title shot, trying to get on the contender series, or any of the bigger organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
The win represented his first by knockout in either the amateur or professional levels. He said it felt great to add another accomplishment to his fighting resume.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a big rush,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Bonin represents Black Dragon Combative Systems, a mixed martial arts organization based out of Red Deer.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s fought in 11 matches within Unified MMA, both at the professional and amateur levels. Unified is one of Canada\u2019s MMA leagues.<\/p>\n
With six amateur fights under his belt, the Red Deerian made the move to the professional level in June 2024, and since then has a 3-2 record. He primarily wins by submission, but also has won matches by decision and, most recently, by knockout.<\/p>\n
Bonin is still signed on for one more fight with Unified MMA that will take place in Edmonton in March. However, an opponent has not been determined just yet.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s hoping his latest victory will lead to opportunities in some of the sport\u2019s bigger leagues, including One Championship, the Professional Fighters League, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).<\/p>\n
\u201cA title shot would also help lead into the next phase of my career in the bigger leagues,\u201d he said, adding he plans to take a month off after doing four fights in one year. Typically, most fighters will do two fights a year because of safety concerns.<\/p>\n
Bonin has been in the fight scene since he was four-years-old. He began his journey practicing karate at Cheney\u2019s Zen Karate & Kickboxing before moving over to Arash Do Martial Arts when he was 10-years-old.<\/p>\n
At 16, he took a break before returning to the sport when he was 18-years-old, joining Black Dragon Combative Systems. He also trains at Arash Do in Sylvan Lake and goes to Calgary to train in wrestling and MMA.<\/p>\n
Bonin knew it was a sport he wanted to pursue professionally after he was inspired by UFC fighter Dustin Poirier, who knocked out Conor McGregor in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had one amateur fight and then the pandemic happened, so I couldn\u2019t do anything for a year or two. Then that fight happened, and I was like, \u2018let\u2019s go, I\u2019m ready to fight,’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He had his first amateur bout at 18-years-old, and now, at 27, he just completed his fifth professional match in the cage. He explained it\u2019s been a long road.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been highs and lows. The MMA has the highest of highs and the lowest of lows because losses suck, but the wins are amazing,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
In his first professional fight, he defeated Mitchell Carlson at Unified MMA 54 with a rear-naked choke submission in round one and also had a unanimous decision victory over Justin Knoepfli at Unified MMA 61.<\/p>\n
Bonin said the ground game in MMA is definitely his specialty.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a ground guy. I\u2019m a wrestler and a jujitsu artist,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve extensively worked on my ground game. It\u2019s the least amount of damage and the path of least resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Red Deerian admitted there\u2019s an element of fear that creeps in when he gets into the cage, but when that does happen, he likes to remind himself of a piece of advice his father told him, \u201cif you don\u2019t have fear, there\u2019s something off in your brain. And that you can overcome fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
A big part of his preparation begins six to eight weeks before a fight, with the first three dedicated to cardio and weight loss. The last few weeks of training are all about specializing and going over fight techniques.<\/p>\n
What motivates him to keep going is the pursuit of becoming the best version of himself and a stronger person, both mentally and physically.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find that martial arts and MMA bring out the best in me. It brings out confidence, excitement, and fear. The fear aspect makes it feel as real as it possibly can. Fighting is one of the most raw things you can do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say I\u2019m a little kooky and crazy to get in the cage because I do enjoy it. Any fighter that gets in there and is successful is a little crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHe was a very dangerous opponent, so there was a lot leading up to this fight. It was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-360125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}