Seizing an Opportunity, Bonnar Ready for Saturday

Sherdog.com: The first time you fought on the show, you picked Bobby Southworth. Why did you do that?

Bonnar: Well I picked to fight Bobby because I knew that I’d have to fight him eventually and, why not? Catch him by surprise and I wanted me to call him out; I didn’t want him to call me out. It always gives you a little mental advantage challenging someone. Because me and Mike Swick were on the same team. Him and Bobby were teammates (at American Kickboxing Academy), so from the beginning we talked about it. When it comes down to the final four him and Bobby had an agreement that they wouldn’t fight until the finals if they could help it. And I respected that. So I knew he was my guy to fight, and I was actually scheduled to fight him in the Ironheart anyway. So, yeah, I said what the hell, let’s get it on now. I was in shape and I knew he’d gotten in better shape and the weight cutting wouldn't be as much of a problem for him as it was the first time. I wanted to call him out and see what I could do with him. I got the win, it worked out.

Sherdog.com: What was the reaction to you picking him? It seemed like, at least from what I recall, a lot of the guys thought that maybe you were in over your head.

Bonnar: Even Dana [White, president of the UFC] said that it was a dumb move. Why didn’t I pick Sam [Hoger]? I should have gone for the easier fight. But, yeah, I knew he was good, but Bobby actually surprised me. He was better than I thought he’d be.

Sherdog.com: Talk about Forrest Griffin. Obviously, he seemed like the most, except for maybe Diego Sanchez, eclectic person in the house. Living with a guy like that, what was that experience like?

Bonnar: It was pretty fun. Forrest provides some good entertainment. He was good, a fun guy to talk to. He had some good stories. He’d do some crazy things that really helped the time go. Because it got monotonous and he helped it bed less monotonous. I know Ken Florian would dream up some funny things for him to do. A couple of times they rearranged all the furniture in the house. One time Kenny poured baby oil all over Forrest and set up a bunch of water bottles like they were bowling pins and he’d slide across the floor into them. You saw the monkey, acting like that. Hiding candy bars all over the house and having a little candy bar hunt.

Sherdog.com: I heard that pissed off the production staff. They didn’t like that too much.

Bonnar: (laughs) Oh, you heard about that, huh? That really pissed them off, but it gave us a ton to laugh about and that’s all that really matters.

Sherdog.com: Were you guys warring with the production staff a lot?

Bonnar: Well, they did enough to make our lives hard. So, we didn’t feel too bad if they had to go around hunt down candy bars. That was funny to us. They were throwing twists in it; trying to catch us in our worst moments; turning us on each other making us fight our teammates; tricking us, saying we won’t have to fight to the end of the show so don’t worry about your weight. Then all of a sudden, boom, we’re fighting in a few days and Bobby had to cut all that weight. That’s why he was pissed. That whole speech about “Do you want to be a f___ing fighter?” from Dana. Bobby wasn’t crazy about fighting because they completely had just lied and said don’t worry about your weight. He wasn’t pissed because he had to fight. He was pissed because he had to cut 25 pounds.

Sherdog.com: Now you’re fighting Forrest. Did you pick up on any stuff while watching the show that gave you clues on how to fight him?

Bonnar: Yeah, definitely. I feel like my stand-up is a little better than his. I have to stay out of his Thai-clinch. He’s really good from there. Hits pretty good from the ground. My guard is good, my defensive guard is good. That’s something I work a lot. I feel my takedowns are equal if not better than his. In a lot of ways, it’s pretty good, even match-up I’d say.