The UFC held a Fight Club Q & A session with Rory MacDonald today ahead of the 154 weigh-in where he answered questions on various topics in his life to a jam packed house inside the New City Gas Nightclub.
MacDonald is set to take on Hawaiian legend BJ Penn on Dec. 8 on UFC on Fox 5 in a fight that was supposed to take place in September at UFC 152 in Toronto.
The story of who called whom out and how the fight was made is well known and MacDonald confirmed today that he first heard that Penn wanted to fight him, so he seized the opportunity and went public with his interest in that fight on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.
“I’m a better fighter than him. I’m not really scared anywhere the fight goes. I’m a better striker, I’m a better wrestler and I’m better on the ground as far as of MMA jiu jitsu. Probably not straight jiu jitsu, we all know what he has done there so.
When it was mentioned how Penn has accused MacDonald and the Tristar gym of being pumped up on steroids and banned substances, MacDonald was blunt in his response.
“He’s got a lot of excuses that guy, he likes to stir up a lot of shit. He likes to get people excited. At the end of the day, he can say whatever he wants to get people excited, I’m still gonna beat his ass.”
Director of UFC Community Relations and host of the session Reed Harris mentioned on a couple of occasions that he has seen Penn recently and that he believes that Penn is in phenomenal shape and Rory will see the best Penn that he will ever see.
It was obvious the second time he mentioned it, that MacDonald had heard enough.
“To be honest with you I don’t really care,” he said glaring at Harris.
“It doesn’t matter what shape he is in. I guess it’s better for the fans if he’s in shape because it will be a better fight.”
MacDonald is extremely confidant that he is going to put a whooping on the former lightweight champion and future Hall of Famer.
I can’t wait to find out on December 8.
Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca UFC. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.
Catch him on Facebook and Twitter @wakafightermma.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com