BOSTON — Coming off a loss to UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao in his last fight, Michael McDonald clearly had something to prove Saturday night.
And prove he did. The fighter known as “Mayday” nearly put Brad Pickett away with a ferocious assault in the first round of their UFC Fight Night bout at TD Garden, then won the bout with a triangle out of nowhere in the second. The time of the finish was 3:43 of the second round.
“You know know what. is I wasn’t going to let an Englishman beat me in Boston where the Revolution started,” said the Modesto, Calif. native.
McDonald came out roaring in the first round, dropping Pickett several times and appearing to give him a broken nose. Several times, McDonald appeared poised to finish the fight, including when he landed a head kick flush, but the uber-tough Pickett managed to hang until the end of what as likely a 10-8 round.
“I didn’t think his chin would be good enough to sustain my power,” McDonald said. “I never hit anyone that hard that many times and he was still standing.”
Pickett was actually winning round two, scoring a takedown and working from the top, when McDonald struck like a cobra to finish the fight. McDonald worked a triangle out of nowhere and got the tap.
McDonald confirmed he was simply waiting for the right moment. “I was just trying to, make sure my arms were strong, legs were strong, wait til body rested,” he said.”