Rory
MacDonald sees at least one more mountain he wants to
climb.
The battle-tested 33-year-old Canadian will confront the undefeated
Magomed
Umalatov when their 2022
Professional Fighters League welterweight semifinal headlines
PFL 8 on Saturday at the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff,
Wales. A shot at a $1 million payday awaits the winner. MacDonald
enters the playoffs as the No. 1 seed at 170 pounds, having gone
1-1 during the regular season—a first-round submission of
Brett
Cooper at PFL 3 on May 6 offset by a unanimous decision defeat
to
Sadibou Sy
at PFL 6 two months later.
As MacDonald makes final preparations for his high-stakes scrap
with Umalatov, a look at five of the many moments that have come to
define him:
1. Growing Pains
Former
World Extreme Cagefighting champion
Carlos
Condit authored an unlikely when he stopped McDonald with a
toxic ground-and-pound tonic—the elbows, hammerfists and punches
flowed—in the third round of their UFC 115 welterweight showcase on
June 12, 2010 at GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia. Condit
brought it to a close 4:53 into Round 3. MacDonald was stellar in
his promotional debut and pressured “The Natural Born Killer” for
much of the first two rounds, as he operated effectively from the
outside and from the clinch. He executed three takedowns inside the
first five minutes but failed to keep Condit grounded and never
sniffed a finish. Coasting was not an option. Condit emerged for
Round 3 with renewed vigor and purpose. He tagged MacDonald with a
right hand, bullied him to the canvas and unleashed a devastating
series of blows that carved up the ex-
King of
the Cage titleholder in the waning seconds. MacDonald, the
youngest fighter on the UFC roster at the time, was unbeaten no
more.
2. A Show of Resilience
MacDonald outwrestled, outgrappled and outstruck “The Ultimate
Fighter” Season 5 winner
Nate Diaz to a
unanimous decision in the featured UFC 129 prelim on April 30, 2011
at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Scores were 30-26, 30-27 and
30-27. Diaz kept it competitive for a round, but the longtime
Cesar
Gracie protege had far fewer weapons upon which to call.
MacDonald used a varied striking attack and well-timed takedowns to
chip away at the Californian throughout the first 10 minutes. In
Round three, he wowed the crowd with three belly-to-back suplexes
before battering Diaz with standing-to-ground punches. When the
dust settled, MacDonald had completed seven takedowns, piled up
more than five minutes of control and held a 42-26 advantage in
significant strikes.
3. Sin City Savagery
Robbie
Lawler retained the undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship
welterweight crown with a fifth-round technical knockout of
MacDonald in the UFC 189 co-headliner on July 11, 2015 at the MGM
Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. “Ruthless Robbie” closed the door
60 seconds into Round 5, bringing a decisive conclusion to an
instant classic. MacDonald forced the
American Top Team rep to rally to keep his title. He withstood
a ghoulish onslaught from Lawler in the second round, where the
champion left his face mangled with a seemingly endless volley of
punches down the pike. Straight lefts followed digging jabs, as
Lawler slammed one fist after another into his face. MacDonald
shifted the momentum in a blink, as the
Tristar Gym ace wrapped a head kick around his opponent’s
defenses. Lawler staggered and absorbed a barrage of punches,
standing elbows and knees from the challenger but refused to wilt.
The violence was off the charts. Round 4 provided more of the same
from the two welterweights, who stood and traded. MacDonald seemed
to get the better of the exchanges, especially early in the frame.
However, the damage to his face left him vulnerable. Less than a
minute into the fifth round, Lawler sent a straight left crashing
directly into the Canadian’s nose. He crumbled to his back in
visible distress, and Lawler finished him with follow-up
punches.
4. Reaching the Summit
MacDonald withstood a grotesque hematoma on his left shin and
significant damage to his nose, as he took a unanimous decision
from
Douglas
Lima and laid claim to the undisputed
Bellator
MMA welterweight crown in the Bellator 192 co-main event on
Jan. 20, 2018 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Scores were
48-47, 49-45 and 49-46. Lima bagged points and made life difficult
for the Canadian with a sustained barrage of leg kicks. However,
MacDonald managed to dictate the terms of their engagement on
multiple fronts through clinches and takedowns, suffocating the
Atlanta-based Brazilian with pressure while refusing to allow him
to operate in open space. The “Red King” iced the most significant
win of his career in Round 5, where he completed a takedown inside
the first minute, applied his ground-and-pound and bled the
remaining time off the clock to capture his first major mixed
martial arts championship.
5. A Gulf Too Wide
Gegard
Mousasi retained his Bellator MMA middleweight championship and
did so in overwhelming fashion when he put away MacDonald with a
burst of punches and elbows from full mount in the second round of
their Bellator 206 main event on Sept. 29, 2018 at the SAP Center
in San Jose, California. MacDonald bowed out of the
champion-versus-champion superfight 3:23 into Round 2, having
crashed and burned in his bid to become a rare simultaneous
two-division titleholder. It became apparent from the start that
MacDonald had bitten off far more than he could chew. Mousasi
peppered him with blistering jabs—he snapped the Canadian
challenger’s head back on more than one occasion in the first
round—while incorporating stinging leg kicks, well-disguised left
hooks and crisp right hands. Perhaps sensing the situation was
dire, MacDonald rolled for a possible takedown in the second round
but wound up in bottom position. There, he was met with ferocious
elbow-laden ground-and-pound that left him with a bloody and badly
damaged nose. Mousasi shifted to half guard and ultimately achieved
full mount before tearing into the Tristar Gym star with repeated
punches and elbows to prompt a merciful stoppage.