Stephan Bonnar made his return to a mixed martial arts (MMA) cage this past weekend (Sept. 5, 2014) at Bellator 123.
No, "The American Psycho" didn't compete, he just made an appearance -- along with his masked sidekick -- to help the Viacom-owned promotion announce his recent signing, as well as his upcoming fight against bitter rival Tito Ortiz.
The manner in which he chose to do it, however, left many scratching their heads.
Bonnar proceeded to unveil the identity of his masked man, who just so happened to be Justin McCully, one of Tito's former training partners. McCully was there to supposedly explain to fans just what kind of person Oritz really is. He never got his chance, though, as a mini brawl erupted on camera (see it here).
As a result, many fans (and pundits) ripped the two fighters -- and promotion -- for what they believed was a WWE-style challenge and subsequently staged brawl.
Appearing on The MMA Hour, Bonnar talked about the incident and dismissed any theories that it was staged.
"I can't believe people are this stupid. They have all these conspiracy theories. Scott Coker had a show to run. This was Scott Coker's first show as Bellator president, he had a lot of stuff going on. This was part of it. 'Hey, let's bring Bonnar and Tito out.' The way our contract works, when we go out to stuff like this, we get a plus one. 'Let's get them in the ring, ask a question to each guy.' People think that they got us all in an office together with SPIKE TV and the Bellator brass with me and Tito to plan out this elaborate plan. No. No one knew I was training with Justin McCully or that he was here in Vegas. No one knew that. I mean, come on, I'm a guy who adores guys like Andy Kaufman, or Borat, who pull fast ones on people. I wanted to pull one on Tito. Personally, that disdain for him is completely true, and that's the reason I didn't introduce Justin because it didn't really matter to the crowd. It was for Tito to see. Look, this guy knows you really well and he's got a a lot of dirt on you, and he's in my corner. That was or him, I was pulling this on Tito. I live for stuff like this. When they said they were going to do this, I was excited and I asked Justin what we were going to do. And I knew exactly what I was going to say."
Scott Coker also shot down any pre-planned rumors. If anything, he warned both men to keep their hands off one another to avoid any hefty fines.
He explained it all to MMA Junkie:
"No, no, no, that's totally inaccurate information. Spike didn't know, we didn't know, and after the fight, I was sitting and watching Tito, and he was pissed off and mad for a good hour after that altercation. So as fake or as pro wrestling as it might seem, there's some deep-seeded something going on over there. Really, I don't even know what that's about between McCully and Tito. To me, it's like when Chael Sonnen does his wrestling bits. It's very, ‘Now they're going into the WWE business.' It's just how some of these guys choose to express themselves. I think Stephan had his script ready, but I don't think Tito had his script ready because having Justin there threw him off. But at the end of the day, that's something that happened one time. ... But I'll tell you this: The fight that's going to happen in the cage on Nov. 15 is going to be real. All that stuff's going to be put to the side, and they're going to be locked in the cage, and they're going to have to fight. But we are not going into the pro wrestling business. We're not part of the TNA landscape, and we're not part of Spike's plan. It's something that took us all by surprise. I told Tito, ‘Look, here's the deal: (Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation Director Michael) Mazzulli's here. You're going to get fined. I'm going to get fined. Everybody's going to get fined, so just don't touch each other.' I walked over to Stephan Bonnar, and as I was walking by, I see a guy with a mask. (I thought), ‘Who the heck is this guy?' I was busy, but I went to Stephan, and I said, ‘We're all going to get fined. You guys don't like each other, but please don't touch each other.'"
When confronted by the aforementioned Michael Muzzulli, Coker swore on his father's grave that he had nothing to do with the planning of a brawl.
"He asked me, ‘Coker, what happened?' And I'm like, ‘Mike, I swear, I did not know that was going to go down, and that's the truth, on my father's grave,' I did not know that was going to go down. That's not my style, and this is not something that we had pre-planned. I asked them, please, don't touch each other. All I remember (during the brawl) was somebody spitting over my shoulder. I'm like, ‘Jesus, this is terrible.' It was bad, but it happened, and it is what it is. I understand why the fans are confused, but this is something that wasn't pre-planned on our part. It was really between Tito and Stephan. What happens in the cage on the 15th, there's not going to be any pro wrestling. It's going to be a real fight."
Nevertheless, Bonnar and Ortiz will settle their issues once and for all when they step inside the cage on Nov. 15 at Bellator 131 in San Diego, California.
Bonnar also went on to say that his sole reason for coming out of retirement is to rid MMA of the disease that is Ortiz. Something their former boss, Dana White, put his stamp of approval on.
What say you Maniacs, are you buying Bonnar and Coker's explanations?
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