A previously reported bout had Canadian welterweight Rory “The Waterboy” MacDonald (10-1) taking on “TUF 12″ winner James Wilks at the upcoming UFC 129 event in Toronto, but a report by MMAFighting.com has MacDonald going up against Nate Diaz (13-6) at the event.
Reporter Ariel Helwani learned of the bout from a source close to the fight. A match like this will likely end up on the pay-per-view portion of the event.
Diaz was stopped by Dong Hyun Kim just a couple of weeks ago at UFC 125, losing a unanimous decision to the Korean fighter. The defeat ended a two fight win streak for Diaz who has put in a 3-2 record over his last five fights. The season 5 “TUF” winner submitted Marcus Davis at UFC 118 and TKO’d Rory Markham at UFC 111. Over Diaz’ 8-4 career with the UFC he’s won four “Fight of the Night” bonuses and two “Submission of the Night” bonuses.
MacDonald is 1-1 in the UFC having lost his last bout to Carlos Condit at UFC 115 in June, a bout which earned both the “Fight of the Night” bonus. The Canadian was to have returned in November at UFC 123 against Matt Brown but an injury forced him off the card. “The Waterboy” made his UFC debut in January of last year against Mike Guymon, earning a first round submission.
UFC 129 will take place on April 30 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario and is expected to be headlined by a UFC welterweight title match between champion Georges St-Pierre and challenger Jake Shields.