Stephan Bonnar’s just a few days away from the biggest fight of his life against Anderson Silva, a potential career-defining moment that he hopes will see him produce one of the biggest upsets of all time and go down in the history books as MMA’s version of ‘Rocky’.
It’s fair to say that not too many people see it going doing like that however, and that includes Bonnar’s own mom.
“You’ll be killed dead,” Mrs Bonnar bluntly told her 35 year-old son when he informed her of his latest assignment in Rio this weekend.
Gee, thanks mom!
Perhaps not the motivational words of wisdom that Bonnar would have been hoping to hear as he prepares to enter the lion’s den, but then again, the former TUF season one finalist is long enough in the tooth to know what he’s got himself in for.
“I’m sh*tting in my pants,” Bonnar admits to MMAMania about the prospect of facing the world’s best fighter.
If there’s one thing we know about ‘The American Psycho’ though, it’s that he never backs down from a fight, and while he’s understandably nervous, he also says there’s less pressure on his shoulders since nobody, not even his own mom, is giving him a chance of emerging with a victory on Saturday night.
Without that weight of expectation on his shoulders Bonnar has been able to focus purely on the task at hand, and devise a rather simple, straightforward gameplan.
“All I’ve got to do is give him hell.”