Bonnar: When I Bleed, It Brings Out the Best of Me

Stephan Bonnar was disheartened when his match with Krzysztof Soszynski was stopped on a cut at UFC 110 in February.

He was in the midst of a two-year victory drought, and many questioned his presence in the UFC following back-to-back defeats at the hands of rising star Jon Jones and aged veteran Mark Coleman.

The man who is credited -- along with his dance partner Forrest Griffin -- for launching the sport to its current heights was hanging on by a thread and he felt that strand was cut too soon in the Land Down Under.

“In the last fight, it’s a loss on my record, but I didn’t lose that fight,” explained Bonnar. “I was still going. There was four minutes left, and it was a tied-up fight in the third round and it shouldn’t have been stopped.”

It was nearly déjà vu all over again for the 33-year-old when he was opened up repeatedly in the first round of the rematch Saturday at UFC 116.

“I was just worried. In Australia I had one cut on my head, and they stopped the fight on it. This time I had about five or six. I didn’t want the fight to get stopped. I didn’t want anyone taking that fight from me so I just kept going for it,” said Bonnar.

“The first cut I was like, ‘probably no big deal,’ and then the second cut was like, ‘Oh damn, looks like I’m bleeding out of another hole.' Then they kept adding up, and yeah, it got me worried. The plan was to really make it a dogfight and push the pace and you know me, when I bleed it tends to bring the best out of me. Typical Bonnar.”

The victory was sweet -- not just because of the way their last fight ended -- but because this was the first taste of victory for Bonnar in nearly three years.

“I blew my knee out. I was out a year there and then had a rough road,” said the cast member of the original “Ultimate Fighter.”

UFC President Dana White was asked at the postfight news conference if a third fight was in order to settle the score once and for all.

“Anything can happen,” said White. “Not right now, I wouldn’t say that. I don’t think there is any doubt that Stephan won the fight tonight.”

Bonnar also chimed in, and in typical fashion for the dry-witted light heavyweight.

“Personally,” joked Bonnar, “I spent the last eight months thinking about Krzysztof so I’m pretty sick of him.”