Bully Beatdown › Season 1 › Cast › Tony Bonello

NICKNAME: The Gun
HOMETOWN: Bondi Beach, Sydney Australia.
AGE: 36
HEIGHT: 6'0"
WEIGHT: 205
STYLE: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai
RECORD: 16-1-1


STORY: Tony Bonello has a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Paulo Guimaraes. Paulo is a second generation black belt under Rickson Gracie. Tony has traveled to several countries and trained in many different types of martial arts over the last 20 years. He never planned on being a professional fighter, although he has trained with many well known fighters, he did so as a fan of martial arts rather than being a fighter. He just enjoyed the physical challenges the martial arts training gave him and the self discipline that martial arts instilled in him, as well as the life long friends he has made throughout the martial arts community.


Some of the gyms and people he has trained with are, Jeff Fenech and Anthony Mundine in Sydney for boxing; Chan Chuck Fai in Chinatown Sydney for Muay Thai; Roberto Duran in Panama; Vos gym in Holland with Ivan Hypolyte in Muay Thai; Keishukai gym in Tokyo with Coal Uno; Al Stankie in L.A. for boxing; Sitpholek Muay Thai gym in Thailand for Muay Thai; Carlson Gracie academy in Rio for Brazilian jiu-jitsu; then in 2000, after several years of training for fun and discipline, Tony fought his first pro fight on a show in Sydney, Australia. Over the next several years, Tony fought for fun in Sydney. His training mainly focused on Brazilian jiu-jitsu, as most fighters in Australia were excellent strikers but lacked a strong ground game, he won all his fights on the ground.


In 2007, his last fight in Australia, he fought the Muay Thai and K-1 max superstar John Wayne Parr. Tony won in the 1st round. After that fight, Tony decided to fly to the U.S.A. In his first fight in U.S.A for 2007, he fought a war on the "King of the Cage" promotion against their number one ranked heavyweight, Tony Lopez. Tony Bonello won a unanimous decision. He then signed with ProElite and for his very first fight Bonello was offered a fight versus former 185lb EliteXC world champion, Murilo 'Ninja' Rua. Bonello couldn't turn down the opportunity, so he signed the fight. The biggest hurdle was getting down to the 185lb weight limit. Bonello was a 235lb heavyweight for the past 2 months. Bonello dropped the 50lbs and barely made the weight of 185lbs at the official weigh-in. Tony lost against Ninja Rua but looks forward to getting back in the gym. He will get back to his natural heavyweight division and fighting as soon as possible.


It was an excellent eye opener fighting Ninja. There is level of skill and physical strength needed to be an EliteXC world champion. Although he lost to the former champion, Tony is now back in the gym with a much better understanding of how hard a man needs to train in order to be a world champion in EliteXC. Training can't be just for fun, it must be harder than the fight. He is getting ready for his next fight.


The biggest lesson Tony has learned is that he will never fight at 185lbs again. He is a natural heavyweight. The lowest weight he will drop for a fight is at light heavy weight. Cutting 50lbs is just too much on the body. It leaves you with no strength.


Source: eliteXC