As always, the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas is buzzing with activity. MMAInsider was on the scene last weekend while several well-known fighters prepared for upcoming bouts in a group sparring session.
Amidst the swarm of fists and kicks on the gym's main workout area, Gilbert Yvel was engaging Stephan Bonnar near the cage in the second of five five-minute rounds. From the looks of it, Yvel was taking it to the runner-up of the original "Ultimate Fighter."
Yvel's hands and feet were lightning fast; he never let anything get away. The second Bonnar threw a punch, another was on its way to meet him. He did his best to catch-up, but after eating several kicks to the midsection, he thought twice about being overly aggressive.
And apparently, Yvel was still being too nice. Between rounds, Yvel's trainer, John Lewis, told his fighter to turn it up a notch.
"You can hit harder," he encouraged.
When the two found each other in the fifth five-minute round, Yvel quit playing patty-cake.
One particular kick to Bonnar's midsection took the wind out of his sails.
"It kinda sucked," Bonnar later told MMAinsider. "Every time I hit him, he'd hit me back harder. So I took him down at the end of the (second) round, kinda got a good position on him. He didn't like that, so he found me again for the fifth round and hit me with a few."
Bonnar pointed to his left eye, which was marked red.
"It's good to take an ass whupping every now and then," he said with a smile.
Make sure to check out videos with Yvel and Bonnar as they discuss their upcoming fights at Affliction's "Day of Reckoning" and UFC 94, respectively.
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