Bonnar: This is the culmination of it all
A UFC 153 commercial making the television rounds depicts Forrest Griffin coaching old pal Stephan Bonnar on how to fight…
A UFC 153 commercial making the television rounds depicts Forrest Griffin coaching old pal Stephan Bonnar on how to fight Anderson Silva.
Griffin basically lists every option available to use in the fight and tells Bonnar not to do that. Bonnar takes notes on the other side of a table before peering into the camera with a sarcastic look of fear near the end.
The 35-year-old local light heavyweight isn’t rejecting his perceived status as the lamb being fed to the lion. He’s embracing it.
Did you know if you put $100 on me, you could win a half-a-million? Bonnar joked a few days before he took off to Brazil last week.
A $100 wager on Bonnar would actually yield a payday of $1,300 in sports books, but that’s a UFC main-event record. It’s also beside the point.
Because no matter how many Bonnar quips fill sound bites and promotional quotes, there’s more to the story. Bonnar is not going into the Silva showdown with the happy-go-lucky attitude he’s helping the UFC sell. Underneath the banter is boldness.
Bonnar looks at the bout as the most important of his 11-year career in mixed martial arts.
It’s a defining moment of my whole life — all the martial arts I’ve done, all the training and MMA fights and wrestling and boxing, Bonnar said. This is the culmination of it all.
I don’t have the best luck. I’m kind of like the bad-luck kid. Every once in a while, a great opportunity comes along and I take advantage of it. I think I did that with (TUF) season one. This is the biggest opportunity to ever come my way. It tops season one, I’d say.
Bonnar believes he can test Silva because he’s durable, tough and gritty. Despite seven losses, Bonnar has never gotten knocked out.