Seizing an Opportunity, Bonnar Ready for Saturday
Back to Reality
Josh Gross Apr 7, 2005
Sherdog.com: Back home, whom do you train with?
Bonnar: The Carlson Gracie team. Pretty much it works like we got him, we got Miguel Torres and some of his guys in northwest Indiana I go to train with. But mostly at the Carlson school there’s mainly a lot of good jiu-jitsu guys. Carlson has them go in and try to ground-and-pound on me. Starts me from bad positions. Then I get tired. We have a few good guys who wrestled in college that are good with their takedowns but not good jiu-jitsu. Once I’ve gone with the good jiu-jitsu guys and I’m a little tired he makes me do the takedowns with the good wrestlers. And once it goes to the ground, stand it back up because their jiu-jitsu isn’t the best. Then I go to Windy City Boxing gym to do my boxing. Miguel Torres and his guys work on my kicks. Sometimes I go to C.F.C to work on my kicks, too. I kind of take the best of what I can get. If there’s only good jiu-jitsu guys in there, that’s what I’m doing. If there’s really good wrestlers in there, I’m working my takedowns. I go to Windy City and get professional boxers to spar with. That’s good work for me.
Sherdog.com: Do you feel like you’re representing the Chicago area
at all?
Bonnar: Oh yeah, definitely. I live right Downtown Chicago. I’ve been living there and working there the last five years. So I’m representing there and also Munster, Indiana where I was born and raised. And that’s right outside Chicago, about a half-hour outside right over the border.
Sherdog.com: What led you to fighting?
Bonnar: I’ve always just loved fighting, ever since I was a little kid. If I could see “Samurai Sunday” I’d watch it. Or anything with fighting in it I was just drawn to. And I was getting in fights at a young age. And I had two older brothers and we fought a lot. So even getting my ass whooped, it didn’t bother me to too much. I know some people, they have really good records and then they lose and they can’t come back from that. That’s something that’s never bothered me and I’m not scared of. If I lose and get whooped I get back in the gym and get ready to do it again. That’s not something that’s going to affect me, so I think that helps a lot mentally. I did a little baseball, basketball and football, but I was really drawn to the wrestling and Tae Kwon Do. After college I really got into the jiu-jitsu and boxing.
Sherdog.com: I imagine your life or at least people’s reaction to you has changed. How much attention have you gotten since the show started airing?
Bonnar: Yeah, I’ve gotten a good amount of attention where I work and going out. And when I go back to Munster, of course my hometown, I get a lot of attention. Over the past month or so I’ve grounded myself and just been training hard. So when you don’t go out much you don’t get much attention. And that really hasn’t changed me at all. I appreciate every compliment I get. It means a lot to me and I’m glad to hear everyone that comes up to me and say they watch it. It helps to remind me and crack down and train hard.
Bonnar: The Carlson Gracie team. Pretty much it works like we got him, we got Miguel Torres and some of his guys in northwest Indiana I go to train with. But mostly at the Carlson school there’s mainly a lot of good jiu-jitsu guys. Carlson has them go in and try to ground-and-pound on me. Starts me from bad positions. Then I get tired. We have a few good guys who wrestled in college that are good with their takedowns but not good jiu-jitsu. Once I’ve gone with the good jiu-jitsu guys and I’m a little tired he makes me do the takedowns with the good wrestlers. And once it goes to the ground, stand it back up because their jiu-jitsu isn’t the best. Then I go to Windy City Boxing gym to do my boxing. Miguel Torres and his guys work on my kicks. Sometimes I go to C.F.C to work on my kicks, too. I kind of take the best of what I can get. If there’s only good jiu-jitsu guys in there, that’s what I’m doing. If there’s really good wrestlers in there, I’m working my takedowns. I go to Windy City and get professional boxers to spar with. That’s good work for me.
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Bonnar: Oh yeah, definitely. I live right Downtown Chicago. I’ve been living there and working there the last five years. So I’m representing there and also Munster, Indiana where I was born and raised. And that’s right outside Chicago, about a half-hour outside right over the border.
Sherdog.com: What led you to fighting?
Bonnar: I’ve always just loved fighting, ever since I was a little kid. If I could see “Samurai Sunday” I’d watch it. Or anything with fighting in it I was just drawn to. And I was getting in fights at a young age. And I had two older brothers and we fought a lot. So even getting my ass whooped, it didn’t bother me to too much. I know some people, they have really good records and then they lose and they can’t come back from that. That’s something that’s never bothered me and I’m not scared of. If I lose and get whooped I get back in the gym and get ready to do it again. That’s not something that’s going to affect me, so I think that helps a lot mentally. I did a little baseball, basketball and football, but I was really drawn to the wrestling and Tae Kwon Do. After college I really got into the jiu-jitsu and boxing.
Sherdog.com: I imagine your life or at least people’s reaction to you has changed. How much attention have you gotten since the show started airing?
Bonnar: Yeah, I’ve gotten a good amount of attention where I work and going out. And when I go back to Munster, of course my hometown, I get a lot of attention. Over the past month or so I’ve grounded myself and just been training hard. So when you don’t go out much you don’t get much attention. And that really hasn’t changed me at all. I appreciate every compliment I get. It means a lot to me and I’m glad to hear everyone that comes up to me and say they watch it. It helps to remind me and crack down and train hard.
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