I can’t speak for anyone else, but when I’m busy working and someone keeps trying to talk to me, it becomes very distracting and makes it hard to focus. That’s why I can empathize with Rory MacDonald, who found it difficult to “pull the trigger” in his fight against Jon Fitch.
“Red King” reflected on his majority draw inside the SAP Center last night (Sat., April 27, 2019) in San Jose, Calif., a result that preserved his 170-pound title, as well as his Bellator welterweight grand prix semifinal against Neiman Gracie later this year.
“I feel like God has really called me the last little while,” MacDonald said after the fight. “I don’t know. He’s changed my spirit, changed my heart. It takes a certain spirit to come in here and put a man through pain. I don’t know if I have that same drive to hurt people anymore. I don’t know what it is. It’s confusing, but I know the Lord has something in store for me. He was speaking to me in here tonight. I don’t know. It’s a different feeling.”
MacDonald recently told MMA Junkie that he’s changing as a man after growing closer to God at his Pentecostal church. While anything that brings a man (or woman) peace and happiness is something to be celebrated, it may leave him ill-equipped to handle the traumas of cage fighting.
The whole purpose of a legally-sanctioned mixed martial arts (MMA) fight is to hurt your opponent badly enough to leave them unable to continue, by way of referee stoppage or verbal submission. Not being able to “pull the trigger” not only makes it harder to win, it could leave MacDonald more susceptible to incoming fire.