Jul-8-2009
Bonnar Ain’t Afraid of ‘Scary’ Coleman Anymore
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UFC Ultimate 100 Greatest Fight Moments
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By Thomas Gerbasi
Like most of us, Stephan Bonnar hasn’t forgotten his first impressions of UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman.
“I remember thinking ‘oh my God, this guy’s an animal. Who’s gonna beat him?’” laughs Bonnar. “I was actually pretty scared of him. I remember in 2001 I had just started fighting and I used to train with (UFC vet) Shonie Carter, and he actually had some guys in there interviewing him, and he was carrying on, saying ‘I’ll fight anyone, I’m not scared of anyone,’ and I remember saying ‘I’m not scared of many people, but that Mark Coleman scares me a little.’”
It was a common reaction from those who saw him tear through his first six fights in the UFC with a debilitating attack named ‘ground and pound.’ And even after Coleman hit a losing streak in the Octagon, his subsequent career resurrection in PRIDE got everyone back in the ‘this guy is scary’ camp. Thankfully, we don’t have to fight him. Bonnar does though, and on Saturday, he’s going to look to break down a legend, who even at 44 years old has enough mystique to draw respect from fans and his peers. But is he too old to beat the 32-year old Bonnar?
“I don’t think his age is that big of a factor,” said Bonnar. “I know he’s really healthy, takes care of his body and claims physically to feel great. Look at his last fight – he didn’t even have a training camp and he gave Shogun (Rua) a run (at UFC 93). Everyone’s saying, ‘oh, he’ll gas,’ but he’s been training here in Vegas and I know he’ll be in better shape. So the factor is not so much his age, but there’s a formula for beating that style of fight nowadays and it is keeping him at the end of your punches, keeping that distance, and stopping takedowns. That’s the name of the game.”
In January against Rua, Coleman showed that while he may not have had enough gas in the tank to go three hard rounds, he still had the will and skill to give Rua fits, even putting the Brazilian in trouble on a couple occasions. The fight showed Coleman that to still compete at this level, he has to have a dedicated training camp, thus his relocation to Las Vegas for the last two months. So Bonnar, who trains in Sin City as well, is aware that counting on Coleman to gas out like he did against Rua would be a mistake come fight night.
“I can’t bank on him getting tired, especially now that I know that he’s been training and having people push him, but I also know that with his style - he’s the type that throws every punch with a hundred percent power and goes for takedowns by using a lot of strength - no matter how good of shape you’re in, if you keep the fight busy, keep that distance, keep throwing punches - and if he does get me down, if I keep scrambling and moving - and make him work a lot, I don’t care who you are, you’re gonna get tired. That goes both ways too. I just got done training my ground, and we had a big, strong guy in there, and those guys drain more energy out of you. That’s what you saw with Shogun in the last fight. But I’m ready, I’ve been putting in the work, and I’m ready to move.”
That’s good news for Bonnar fans, who saw ‘The American Psycho’ fall short in his January bout as well as he dropped a three round unanimous decision to rising star Jon Jones. It was Bonnar’s first bout after a 15 month layoff due to injury, and the normally hard-charging Indiana native seemed tentative and one step behind Jones all night. Turns out that Bonnar had done all his hard charging in the gym, leaving him flat by the time the bell rang.
“Probably my biggest mistake was that I was out for a long time, not able to do anything, and then I had a really long training camp and I didn’t take any time off,” he said. “I just kept thinking – push more, push harder – I’ve been out, I need to keep pushing – and I overdid it. I was pretty run down going into that fight. I remember hitting pads warming up, and feeling like I had nothing. I was flat. But I’m not taking anything away from Jon Jones. I think he’s a tremendous athlete and he fought a great fight.”
Leaving his fight in the gym and the subsequent defeat stunned Bonnar, who had been through a number of ups and downs in his UFC career since he waged war with Forrest Griffin in the first Ultimate Fighter finale in 2005. Winning both of his fights in 2007 over Mike Nickels and Eric Schafer seemed to put him on the right track, but after the knee injury - which required reconstructive surgery – Bonnar tried to do too much to make up for lost time and he paid for. It was a lesson learned.
“When you’re fighting a lot, you’re not that worried about it because you know you’re in shape,” he said. “There were like six months when I just couldn’t do anything in terms of training, and once I did start, it was a real gradual process, so in my mind I said ‘I gotta keep pushing more, gotta keep training harder,’ and looking back now, I see that it was a mistake.”
Luckily for him, in the fight game, you’re only as good as your last fight, and if he can defeat Coleman on one of the biggest nights in the history of the sport, the Jones fight can turn into just another blip on his career radar and he can get back to the business of chasing after a world title shot.
“There are a lot of good guys in there and it’s kinda like climbing a ladder,” said Bonnar, 14-5. “I beat Coleman I’m up another rung, and there are a lot of other tough guys, so I’ll have to prove myself all over again against a higher ranked guy, and then I’m up another rung and a little closer to being in contention for a title shot, and with Machida as champion, not too many people are chomping at the bit to fight him, so I may be able to get in there.”
Yes, he said it, he’s willing to get in there with the baddest man in the light heavyweight division right now. Why? Well, the two have a little history, with the then-unknown Machida pinning the first pro loss on the equally unknown Bonnar’s pro record back in 2003. It’s a loss Bonnar wouldn’t mind getting a little payback for.
“The first time around I didn’t know anything about him, but now that I know, he’s still really talented and a really hard guy to hit,” said Bonnar of Machida. “But it would be a great fight to have. You’d be an underdog, the guy already has a win on you and those are the fights that are the most fun because you’ve got nothing to lose. Ever since I lost to him I thought about how you could hit him, and I actually landed a few shots on him in the first fight, so I know how that feels, and I’ve definitely thought about it a lot and would love the opportunity. I think I could get to him.”
First he has to get through ‘The Hammer’, and oddly enough, if not for Stephan Bonnar (and Forrest Griffin) there may not have been a UFC 100, as it was their aforementioned Ultimate Fighter finale that put the UFC on the mainstream map when the company was bleeding money.
Bonnar always had faith though, and it’s what’s carried him this far.
“It’s weird, you hear that from a lot of people, and even back on the show, I remember (UFC President) Dana White being worried that the show wasn’t even gonna make it to TV, and I could tell he was worried that it wouldn’t be a success,” he recalled. “For some reason, in my mind, I was like ‘what, are you kidding me? This thing’s gonna be a hit and we’re gonna have a bunch of seasons like this.’ I always thought it was gonna be the coolest show ever.”
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