Rory MacDonald has spent the better part of the last six months just itching to get a shot at Carlos Condit in the UFC, but last week his efforts came to a crashing halt after suffering a neck injury in training.
The young Canadian fighter was working at his home gym Tri-Star in Montreal when he suffered a neck injury that forced him to make the fateful call to matchmaker Joe Silva informing him that he wouldn’t be unable to compete at UFC 158 and his long awaited rematch with Carlos Condit.
According to his manager Lex McMahon of Alchemist MMA, MacDonald suffered the injury late last week and the final diagnosis will require him to sit out of training for the better part of the next month.
“Unfortunately, late last week during a training session Rory suffered a severe neck and back strain,” McMahon said in a statement sent to Bleacher Report on Tuesday. “Rory is in a great deal of pain and has a very limited range of motion in his neck.”
While the injury doesn’t appear to be severe enough to warrant any serious time off or surgery, it still puts MacDonald on the sidelines as an observer for UFC 158
“Rory consulted a doctor and was advised that he will need to take three to four weeks off from training while he rehabs the injury,” McMahon stated.
Carlos Condit holds the only win over Rory MacDonald during his professional fight career, so it was his mission to get a little bit of revenge with their rematch at UFC 158.
MacDonald hopes to get back and still get a shot at Condit some point down the road, but for now his focus is on getting healthy and just being able to return to the Octagon later this year.
“Rory is very upset that he will not be able to face Carlos Condit at UFC 158, but is looking forward to getting back to training as soon as possible and fighting Carlos Condit and the UFC’s top competition,” said McMahon.
If MacDonald’s rehabilitation goes well over the next month, he would likely then be made available for a late spring or early summer card. First things first however, MacDonald has to let his neck heal before he can even contemplate booking another fight.
In the meantime, Condit now faces Johny Hendricks in the new co-main event for UFC 158, while Nate Marquardt has stepped in to take on Jake Ellenberger in a new featured bout on the card with MacDonald out.
Damon Martin is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com