It seems Stephan Bonner is battling through tough times at the moment.
The UFC Hall of Famer posted two disturbing videos to Instagram on Saturday in which he’s shown arguing with hospital staff, and later, police.
In the first video, a clearly distressed Bonnar is heard yelling at Henderson Hospital Emergency Ward staff in Nevada, who he claims refused to treat him for a fractured vertebrae sustained in a pro wrestling match the previous week.
The second video shows Bonnar in a stand-off with two Las Vegas policemen, where he further airs his grievances. The 44-year-old claims a previous prescription for Oxycodone led to his refusal of treatment.
“I’m coming to get treatment for a fractured vertebrae,” Bonnar yells at the police in the video (h/t Ryan Harkness at MMA MANIA). “I can’t sit, dumbf—k, my back’s broken! Stephan Bonnar, I’m a UFC Hall of Famer. I don’t have my license on me or my debit card. You know why? Because the pharmacist at CVS forgot to give it back to me. You know when? When she was telling me I couldn’t get my 7.5mg Norcos because, guess why, I recently had 10mg Oxys filled.”
“So they could only give me Tramadol,” he continued. “The Tramadol is awful, it doesn’t work. And the Oxycodone 10mgs are all gone. So I came to the emergency room finally after suffering with a fractured lumbar vertebrae, doctor, for a week!”
Due to the epidemic of Oxycodone abuse in the United States, medical professionals are now bound by tighter regulations when prescribing opioid-based medication. It’s likely Bonnar’s previous prescription for Oxycodone triggered an internal check at the hospital which prevented him from receiving a prescription for Norco.
Bonnar’s videos elicited many concerned comments from his Instagram followers, including from fellow fighters Diego Sanchez and Mark Coleman.
Unfortunately, this latest incident isn’t the first time Bonnar has made headlines for the wrong reasons. In 2018, he was arrested for a DUI in Las Vegas after being pulled out of his car in a semi-conscious state by concerned citizens. And in April this year, Bonnar posted a similarly concerning series of Instagram videos showing him verbally abusing gym staff after being ejected for not wearing a mask. In 2020, Bonnar revealed that he was suffering from a neurological condition related to CTE.
An alum of The Ultimate Fighter 1, Bonnar fought in the UFC light heavyweight division between 2005 and 2012, amassing an 8-6 record. His last MMA fight was a loss to Tito Ortiz at Bellator 131 in 2014.
