Issue 137
January 2016
Rory MacDonald was carried from the Octagon bloodied and broken in the summer following one of the most brutal championship fights in history. Six months on, has the 26-year-old got anything left?
Rory MacDonald
UFC Welterweight
Back in July, Rory MacDonald and Robbie Lawler punched each other into a bloody mess contesting the UFC welterweight title in arguably the most brutal matchup the 170lb weight class has ever witnessed. Both emerged triumphant in the eyes of fans, but ultimately one of them had to come away with another loss on their record. And after rumors of being punch-drunk and unresponsive in the aftermath, did this year’s World MMA Awards ‘Fight of the Year’ contender take more than just a winning paycheck away from the loser? FO goes toe-to-toe with ‘The Red King’ to find out...
Q. Your battle with Lawler in July was epic, but you both took a hell of a beating. Has it left any scars?
A. The Lawler fight was a really good experience for me. It was good for my career but it was also good for my inner fighter. It was a hard experience and it hardened me. It made me tougher and it enhanced my will to win. It taught me lessons that you can only learn by going through that. I’m grateful for that and I’m happy about it. I felt some crazy emotions during the actual fight, but I really enjoyed it.
Q. Did the old fight cliché about learning more from a loss apply here?
A. Even though any loss obviously puts you on a downer, in this case it was a positive as well. In a lot of ways I feel as though it propelled me forward and that’s simply about how I accept the result. I got my ass beat but I gained a lot from it and I’m determined to learn from it.
Q. Have you watched the fight since?
A. I’ve watched it a few times but, honestly, it p**ses me off. There were times where I almost had him beaten. I was winning rounds convincingly. Then there were other times when I was fighting like an idiot, doing things that left me shaking my head thinking, ‘Why would I do that?’ So it’s frustrating, it makes me mad and it makes me want to get in there again and put things right. So I’ve just got to take that fire and energy into my next fight and get the victory.
Q. Did you know you were ahead on the judges’ scorecards?
A. Oh yeah. I knew I was winning and I was totally conscious of the fight. My head was clear. All that talk of me not being able to recall the date afterwards and stuff that was total bulls**t. I knew exactly where I was and what was happening, where I was on the card, all that. It was just my nose was so bad and I was tired and sick of answering questions. Also, my nose was broken so bad and I was obviously swallowing so much blood, so I was a little dizzy. But I didn’t have a concussion, I was just exhausted. The nose, the foot, and a few other parts of me hurt, but my head was clear enough.
Q. How is your nose now?
A. It’s still healing up. I didn’t need any surgery though, it just healed naturally. I kind of rushed back into sparring a little bit too early and I f**ked it up again. What can I say? I couldn’t stop myself. But I know now I have to give it more time, relax a little and allow it to heal properly. Hopefully I’ll be fit enough to come back in January or February.
Q. What’s it like being considered the veteran at Tristar these days, surrounded by so many new prospects?
A.Yeah, it’s funny how at 26 I’m now being called a veteran. It’s strange when I think of myself as a veteran but I do get people in the gym asking me questions and asking me for advice. I guess I am pretty experienced, and I enjoy it. I enjoy working with all my teammates and I’d like to think I gain from working with them as much as they gain from me. Sure I have practical experience and information I can pass to them, but they also have strengths from their backgrounds, which feeds me too. That’s the cool thing about being in a team of martial artists.
Q.Is being more comfortable with public attention and your media obligations something that’s come through experience?
A. Yes, and it was probably one of the toughest things I’ve had to overcome. I am a quiet person and I didn’t get into this sport for (interviews). I became a martial artist because I love martial arts, plain and simple. I’ve prepared myself to be the best I can be in the Octagon and all the stuff outside of it I’ve had to learn to adapt too. We’re not trained for this, so it takes time to get comfortable with the attention.
Q. Lawler next defends his UFC belt against Carlos Condit, how do you see the fight playing out?
A. It’s a really tough fight for both of them. It’s going to come down to a battle of wills and I just think it’s going to be a really exciting fight. I won’t call a winner, I just expect the best man on the night to win.
Old guard
10 years
Despite turning 26 in the summer, MacDonald is one of the most experienced fighters at Tristar, or any gym. October marked the 10th anniversary of the start of his professional fighting career, when he appeared as a fresh-faced 16-year-old in the Extreme Fighting Challenge promotion, based in British Columbia, Canada. He won his first nine fights before debuting in the UFC as a 20-year-old.
Will ‘Rush’ return?
Q. Do you believe Georges St Pierre will ever return to compete in MMA?
A. I know he’s certainly not back in full training camp mode yet, but the itch to come back is definitely there. But that’s about all I do know. He’s the same person. There’s no change in him. People perhaps don’t quite understand what he’s gone through. Every fighter burns out eventually – that’s just a fact. But when you’ve been fighting in championship fights for 10 years, well that’s just a whole other level of burning out. The attention before, during and after every title fight is absolutely crazy and he carried that for a decade. To hold a belt for that period of time and be in the limelight for that long, it’s no surprise that he needed to get away. And if he’s now ready to come back to that then only he knows.
My instinct tells me we’ve not seen the last of him. But I haven’t got a word from him that he will ever fight again so at this point in time the only person that knows the answer to whether he will return is Georges. We’ll just all have to wait and see I guess.
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