Stephan Bonnar:
UFC 110 Blog No. 3 | 01.26.10

Jan 26, 2010 | by MattE | 2 Comments

I suppose most people who read this blog are expecting to read about my training for my fight against Krzysztof (Soszynski at UFC 110 in Sydney on Feb. 20). To be honest with you, I’ve been using this blog as a way to escape talking about my training. This week, however, I give you guys what you want.

There is a big difference between being in shape and being in fight shape. For the past few months, and probably my whole life, I have been in “good shape.” I could do conditioning workouts, grapple 10-minute rounds with the same person and even give people a few rounds of standup work. That’s being in shape – but not fight shape. Oh no – not fight shape.

These past few weeks, I have made the transition to being in fight shape. It’s a very ugly process and I finally seem to be settling in. The best test to see if you’re in fight shape, in my opinion, is how well you can handle “shark bait” drills. Shark bait drills are when one big, strong, fresh guy after another comes in the cage filled with two long minutes of rage. It’s a feeding frenzy of violence. I’m the victim.

I am exhausted, I have threee more minutes in this round till I get my 30-second break. I have a 280-pound gorilla named Carl on top of me trying to kill me. I hit a sweep, open up some space, get on his back and use every last ounce of strength to choke him out. Making him tap felt so good. My arms are exhausted, but I have no time to enjoy it.

The words of my coach Sergio (Penha) pierce my ears. “Alex, GET HIM!!! ON TOP AGAINST THE FENCE! GET HIM! SUBMIT HIM!!! GO, GO!!!”

Oh damn – 2:30 of this hell left, then I get my 30-second break. Then only two more rounds. The rounds of shark bait are supposed to be five minutes, with fresh guys coming in every minute or two, depending on how much rage they have in them. Lately, I have been video recording my training, and the rounds are never under six minutes. Good old Sergio time. I have always been so lost in my exhaustion to notice, but I should have known. Great coach, bad timekeeper.

So like I said, knowing if you are in fight shape is all about how well you can handle shark bait drills. A few weeks a go, by the end of the rounds I was like a pile of mashed potatoes, getting whipped. Watching it would be upsetting to the soul. It’s a victimizing violence, just watching this poor exhausted (guy) getting beaten on.  Afterwards, it seemed heaving and collapsing were inevitable. I wasn’t quite in fight shape.

Now, however, I seem to be handling it better. I am still making guys tap out in the last minute of the rounds. I didn’t throw up today. I am able to run around the cage with my hands up at the end of the rounds which is a good sign – means I didn’t collapse. Don’t get me wrong – it’s still hell. Only a few more weeks of this left! Oh, to be in fight shape – so bittersweet!

I recently saw a “scared straight” program on “The Montel Williams Show” where the troubled teens would be taken to a prison to be scared straight by the inmates and the horror stories of what prison life is like. I also have a lot of kids tell me they want to be a cage fighter, and the hell with school. I would like to propose a program where these kids wake up every morning for a week and go through shark bait drills with me. I know by the end of it, the allure of a quiet, peaceful classroom bright and early in the morning would seem so much more appealing than being judo thrown on your head and being the “bait” for the hungry sharks. Watch as the grades go up.

I think I’m on to something here. “Oh, Montel …”

» Posted in: Stephan Bonnar
» Tagged: UFC, UFC 110

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