Rory MacDonald hasn’t struggled much since departing the UFC.
“The Red King” left the Las Vegas-based promotion back in 2016. Eventually, MacDonald signed with Bellator MMA, quickly capturing the promotion’s welterweight title. His only loss under the promotion’s banner came against Gegard Mousasi, another former UFC star, while challenging for Mousasi’s Bellator middleweight title.
MacDonald is currently in the midst of a Welterweight Grand Prix Tournament. In his quarterfinals bout against Jon Fitch, the pair fought to a draw at Bellator 220 in April. Due to the draw, however, MacDonald, the champion, automatically moved on in the tournament. In his post-fight press conference, MacDonald expressed doubt about his fighting career, noting his newfound Christian faith has softened his heart.
He returned to action this past weekend (Fri. June 14, 2019) at Bellator 222 when he defeated Neiman Gracie in their semi-finals main event. However, it’s very noticeable that MacDonald no longer fights with the same drive and aggression that he once did. UFC President Dana White was recently asked about this during an interview on Sirius XM radio.
White admitted that he doesn’t believe MacDonald has been the same fighter after his war with Robbie Lawler at UFC 189 – which to this day remains one of the greatest fights of all time:
“I think that, different situation in that when, guys say they want to retire and then walk away,” White said. “And then there’s guys that I let go of – or girls – that I let go of because I think that it’s time. But there are other places that they can go and make money. But yeah, I think that Rory is not the same guy that he was going into the [Robbie] Lawler fight.”
Lawler and MacDonald collided back in July of 2015. MacDonald seemingly out-classed Lawler for the majority of the fight, but both men beat each other bloody. MacDonald’s nose was broken during the bout, and the pain was too much for him to withstand in the fifth round. Had he been able to make it through the pain, MacDonald likely would have won the title on the scorecards.
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