Stephen Bonnar Thought He Could ‘Rule The World’ By Beating Anderson Silva

The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 1 finalist Stephan Bonnar was recently thrust back into the news in a rather auspicious manner last at Bellator 123 Friday night (September 5, 2014) when he got into a “brawl” with former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, whom he will face under the Bellator banner on November 15.

Bonnar has been out of action since UFC 153 almost two years ago, where he was knocked out by former middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Bonnar tested positive for Drostanolone after the bout, disgracing himself and earning a suspension in a fight where he was finished near the end of the first round. Today, Bonnar appeared on The MMA Hour to detail how hard he took his mistake in 2012:

“It completely blew up in my face,” Bonnar said. “It was the worst thing that ever happened to me. It was the closest to offing myself I’ve ever been. It just sucked. So, anyway. That’s why I’m so jaded now. That’s the reason.”

Bonnar continued on about his reasoning for using steroids, believing that he was retired and just wanted to pack on some beach muscle after injuries cut his UFC career a bit short:

“I haven’t been in the gym,” Bonnar said. “I’m weak, I’m skinny, I got some stem cell procedures done on my knee, I took a lot of time off. I’m like, crap. I’m really injury prone. So it was like, you know what, I have a month before I have to go train. So yeah, I’m not worried about getting tested any more. I’m going to do a cycle of steroids.

My goal, to get big and strong. I’m going to eat a lot, lift heavy weights, get big and strong. Don’t have to worry about my cardio, don’t have to worry about making weight, don’t have to worry about getting drug tested. So that’s what I did. I never thought I had to fight again.”

He did have almost a year off since his previous fight, a win over the also retired Kyle Kingsbury. Yet the UFC came calling with the opportunity of a lifetime to fight Silva, and Bonnar said he just had to risk it:

“By the time I got that call I had been off them for a couple weeks. So it was like, oh man, now I have to work on my cardio, diet really good and be ready for this fight, hey if I beat Anderson Silva, the s- is out of my system, I’m going to rule the world.””

Bonnar seems rather open about his performance-enhancing drug (PED) use, a problem that has been plaguing MMA all too much in recent months. In the end, any amount of steroids most likely wouldn’t have stopped him from getting knocked out by “The Spider.”

The hard-nosed Bonnar will press forward in Bellator, operating mainly on the fame of his 2005 war with Forrest Griffin, a fight that could go down as arguably the most influential UFC bout to ever take place.

But the landscape of MMA can seemingly change overnight, and that was nine years ago. Will you tune into watch Bonnar battle “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy?