Welterweight Rory MacDonald had one of the better performances at UFC 170 on Saturday night with his unanimous decision win over Demian Maia.
The win put MacDonald back in the driver’s seat after a November loss to Robbie Lawler derailed his title-shot aspirations. With longtime teammate and former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre on hiatus from mixed martial arts, MacDonald is free to pursue championship gold without having to worry about a potential matchup with GSP.
MacDonald’s performance against Maia was something we haven’t seen from the young Canadian in nearly two years. He was aggressive and used all the tools in his arsenal to batter Maia after dropping the first round.
But a recent incident in the kitchen almost prevented MacDonald from competing at all. At the post-fight news conference attended by Bleacher Report, MacDonald revealed that he had competed with stitches in his left hand after recently stabbing himself while cutting an avocado. On Sunday, MacDonald tweeted photographic proof of the nasty injury that could have forced him out of the bout altogether:
MacDonald revealed more details on the avocado incident at the news conference:
“I stabbed myself. It was pretty embarrassing. I couldn’t believe it. I thought I was going to have to pull out of the fight because you could easily hit a tendon,” MacDonald said. “I went to the emergency room, got stitched up, got checked out. Everything’s fine and intact.”
With any luck, MacDonald will avoid situations like this in the future. The welterweight division is getting mighty interesting at the top, with Lawler facing Johny Hendricks next month to determine a new champion and MacDonald, Carlos Condit, Tyron Woodley, Jake Shields and Hector Lombard waiting in the wings.
It would be a shame if something as silly as a slicing an avocado forced MacDonald, or any of these contenders, to miss any significant time.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com