EXCLUSIVE: Stephan Bonnar On Hatred For Tito Ortiz, Bellator vs. UFC, “Masked Man” Incident

The following is a transcript of a new MMANews.com exclusive interview with Stephan Bonnar, who fights Tito Ortiz in the main event of Bellator 131 on Saturday, November 15, 2014, live on Spike TV. You can watch the complete video interview above.

The interview was conducted by MMA News correspondent Michael Moody.

On his broken toe:

“Really a broken toe? Like that’s news. God. It’s just a toe, it’s nothing. It was actually the toe nail. Broken toe nail. Little confusion there. It’s alright though, the toe nail is healing good!”

On what made him want to come out of retirement.

“Just to fight a guy who’s a dick. A guy who’s just an asshole that I can’t stand. Yeah, that’s why. It’s such a great honor to me to be in there with a guy I can’t stand. It’s like a gift. ‘What do you want for Christmas? God, I’d love to be locked in a cage with Tito Ortiz, Santa! I been a good boy.’ Will you grant me my wish?’ Kaboom! There it is, I’m getting locked in a cage with Tito. F*ck you, Tito.”

On criticism of being in the UFC Hall OF Fame:

“I don’t know, it’s not like I went on this campaign saying, ‘Put me in the Hall Of Fame, I deserve it!’ Someone else made the decision to put me in the Hall Of Fame, so what did I do? I smiled and accepted the trophy. So, if you guys don’t like that, take it up with Dana [White].”

On his relationship with Dana White:

“It’s cool. Yeah, we get along. I ran this idea over with him and he wants to see me beat Tito’s ass, so he released me to do it. I said, ‘Man, I got a crazy offer. Bellator is interested in me fighting Tito, but of course I don’t want to burn any bridges with you guys. What do you think of it?’ He said, ‘I’d love to see you beat the sh*t out of him.'”

On what he thinks Dana’s relationship is with Tito Ortiz these days:

“Dana feels the same way about Tito as most people who know Tito feel about him. If you really know the guy then you know he’s a selfish asshole.”

On what it will take for Bellator to be on an even playing field with the UFC:

“[laughs] I don’t know! [laughs again]. I don’t know, from what I see the numbers they do, they’re doing alright. They’re doing just fine. I say keep doing what they’re doing. Scott Coker seems to be doing a good job. Faith in ye Coker!”

On the infamous “Masked Man” incident with Justin McCully:

“It’s called …they made the decision to put me on live TV to make this fight announcement, and one of my favorite people of all time is Andy Kaufman. Why? Because he f*cked with everyone and ultimately he was just amusing himself. So I’m like, ‘hey, good. They’re gonna announce this fight? Put us on live TV? Ahh, wow! This is my big chance to let the world know what a big sack of crap Tito Ortiz really is. And why not bring his old buddy out? But hey, I just don’t want to bring him out, I want it to be a surprise. It was actually McCully’s idea! I want people to tune into this fight and talk about this, so I’m going to make a little spectacle here, and that’s what I did. I knew it would cost me some fans and piss some people off, but ultimately it got people talking, it’ll get people tuning in and everything I said is the way I really felt about the guy. I really don’t like him and I’m gonna let the world know. No more Mr. Nice Guy! No more bullsh*t! I’m sick of all this f*cking bullsh*t! Everyone says the right thing. ‘Oh, it’s such a great honor to fight a true warrior.’ Like, come on. Tell us how you really feel! This is how I really feel.

On his thoughts on Bellator 131 going head-to-head with UFC 180 on the same night:

“I mean, it’s ballsy. Scott Coker’s got a f*cking nut sack on him, I can tell you that. So, it was a surprise to me. I thought it was a ballsy move. But, you know, when I think about it, all my friends are super cheap and they’d much rather watch something for free than pay 50 bucks.”

On who he’s looking forward to fighting in Bellator:

“Tito Ortiz, Tito Ortiz and Tito Ortiz.”

On the origins of his hatred towards Tito Ortiz:

“It’s just …he’s a guy who’s gotten paid just a disgusting amount of money over his career and he constantly burns people. And he’s a miser. He gets comped bottles and charges his friends and profits off of them. The guys got like nine cars in his garage and he’s got training partners coming to help him for his fight and the dudes end up having to ride a skateboard like seven miles to the gym and back instead of getting them a rental car. I mean it’s a broken record. Just screwing over managers. People come in, get him good contracts and make him a lot of money and then he screws them over. So, I kind of see this as I’m karma for him for this fight. It’s my job to make him pay the price for the sh*t he did to other people. I know, it’s kind of f*cked up. I’m a f*cked up person! I’ll admit that. I’m derranged, I need help. So be it, but this is it, I’m karma. I feel like I’m doing a good deed here. I feel like I’m helping the whole universe here by having good karma be carried out through my fists.”

On if he’s got any other “Masked Man” type of surprises up his sleeve heading into Bellator 131:

“Yeah, of course. It’s a surprise though, can I really tell you about it? Like a little kid who peaked in his parents closet at Christmas. Uh-uh, it’s a surprise!”

Make sure to check out Stephan Bonnar vs. Tito Ortiz at Bellator 131 live on Saturday, October 25, 2014, live on Spike TV! For more information on Stephan Bonnar, follow him on Twitter @StephanBonnar. For more information on Bellator, visit Bellator.com.

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