Back in Aug. 2016 — one year after his epic brawl against Robbie Lawler at UFC 189 — Rory MacDonald ruffled a few feathers after he said he was ”suspicious” of his opponent’s post-fight drug test results. One year later, “Red King” boldly came out and flat-out accused “Ruthless” of being “on some shit” during their title fight (on more than one occasion), even though Lawler has never failed a pre- or post-fight drug test.
Now, MacDonald is putting it all behind him, revealing during a recent interview on “The MMA Hour” that he will no longer talk about it. In addition, he will no longer accuse the hard-hitting Welterweight of using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), especially since he has no proof.
“I spoke about it, and then I was on a ‘Ask Me Anything’ on Reddit and they asked me my feelings on it, if he was on it or not, I said I think he was and then it just blew up and people started writing articles on it. Honestly, I think I probably should just shut my mouth on it because I can’t prove it and I’m slandering the guy’s name. It just makes me look like a sore loser, which really is not what I’m trying to do.”
Despite coming up short to Lawler on two separate occasions, he hopes to score another fight against Robbie down the road.
“I have all the respect in the world for Robbie — I think he’s an amazing fighter. Hopefully, one day we’ll be able to step into the cage to do it again. But, it is what it is. I’m not trying to come out and attack a guy with no evidence behind me. I will leave it in the past,” concluded the former UFC title contender.
A trilogy fight will be hard to come by because Lawler is still knocking heads inside the Octagon, while “Red King” has taken his talents to the Bellator MMA cage. Indeed, up next for MacDonald is a 170-pound title fight against Douglas Lima, which is set to go down at Bellator 192 on Jan. 20, 2018, in Inglewood, California. “Ruthless,” meanwhile, will look to get back in the title picture when he faces off against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC on FOX 26 on Dec. 16, 2017.