Bellator 179 takes place on Sunday, May 19, 2017 at the SSE Arena in London, England. The prelims will air on online at 7 p.m. ET while the main card will air on tape delay at 9:00 pm EST on Spike TV. A welterweight fight pitting Paul Daley against Rory MacDonald will serve as the
Bellator 179 takes place on Sunday, May 19, 2017 at the SSE Arena in London, England. The prelims will air on online at 7 p.m. ET while the main card will air on tape delay at 9:00 pm EST on Spike TV.
A welterweight fight pitting Paul Daley against Rory MacDonald will serve as the main event while Liam McGeary vs. Linton Vassell in a light heavyweight bout will serve as the co-main event. Rounding out the main card is Cheick Kongo vs. Augusto Sakai in a heavyweight bout, Dan Vinni vs. Alex Lohore in a welterweight bout and Kevin Ferguson Jr. vs. D.J. Griffin in a welterweight bout.
Bellator officials held the weigh-ins for Bellator 179 on Thursday. Here are the weigh-in results:
Former UFC welterweight title contender Rory MacDonald is set to make his Bellator MMA debut against Paul Daley at Bellator 179, and he would be the first to say that he is a counter-talker. He lets his opponent talk first, and then he responds. However, he has had some issues with getting his opponent to
Former UFC welterweight title contender Rory MacDonald is set to make his Bellator MMA debut against Paul Daley at Bellator 179, and he would be the first to say that he is a counter-talker. He lets his opponent talk first, and then he responds. However, he has had some issues with getting his opponent to open up about their upcoming headlining bout. Aside from Daley calling out MacDonald following his latest vicious knockout win, Daley hasn’t had much to say, which has surprised some people including MacDonald.
“Unfortunately, Paul hasn’t been as himself in that way,” MacDonald told MMAjunkie Radio. “He’s been pretty respectful most of the time besides a couple things he said recently, but I was kind of hoping he would lip a little more.”
Daley did dish out some trash talk during a recent conference call with the media to promote the upcoming event. In particular, it was about MacDonald’s heart after a fifth-round TKO loss to Robbie Lawler in a previous fight at UFC 189. Other than that, this build up has not exactly been what was expected due to the status of this key welterweight bout, and for those who were hoping to get more trash talk between the two fighters, this is not Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor.
“I just, at that point, I was done on my feet, and I had to take a knee, and the ref stepped in. I think if he thinks I’m an easy-to-quit kind of fighter, I think he’s in for a rude awakening.”
At the end of the day for MacDonald, he might think that the trash talk has not been what it could be, he still has respect for Daley, who is a KO specialist.
“He’s a one-hit KO kind of guy, and those guys are always a pain in the ass through the whole fight to deal with because you have to be on 100 percent of the time,” MacDonald said.
Bellator 179 takes place on Sunday, May 19, 2017, at the SSE Arena in London, England. The prelims will air on online at 7 p.m. ET while the main card will air on tape delay at 9:00 pm EST on Spike TV.
Bellator 179 takes place Friday, May 19 at the SSE Arena in London, England. In the main event, former UFC title challenger Rory MacDonald (18–4), making his Bellator debut, meets vicious striker Paul Daley (39–14–2), fresh off his highlight reel flying knee finish of Brennan Ward. This Friday, #PaulDaley defends home turf at @SSEArena against […]
Bellator 179 takes place Friday, May 19 at the SSE Arena in London, England. In the main event, former UFC title challenger Rory MacDonald (18–4), making his Bellator debut, meets vicious striker Paul Daley (39–14–2), fresh off his highlight reel flying knee finish of Brennan Ward. This Friday, #PaulDaley defends home turf at @SSEArena against […]
People still ask him about it.
They ask him about the violence of it, the pain, that 10,000-mile stare. They wonder about the determination that appeared to derive from some obscure part of the brain overlooked by evolution.
Rory MacDonald doesn’…
People still ask him about it.
They ask him about the violence of it, the pain, that 10,000-mile stare. They wonder about the determination that appeared to derive from some obscure part of the brain overlooked by evolution.
Rory MacDonald doesn’t mind talking about that instant classic back in 2015. It was his second fight with Robbie Lawler, then the UFC welterweight champion, and the two waged a top-level, back-and-forth war that ended in the fifth round, when a valiant MacDonald succumbed to the agony of a pulverized nose.
“They’re excited about the fight with Robbie Lawler, always,” MacDonald said of the fans who spot him in public. “The general thing I get is compliments on that fight.”
Rory was 16 years old when he first fought professionally and 25 for that Lawler contest. To dabble in lazy cliches, fans watched him become a man in full right on their screens.
He’s not that young phenom anymore. After extended inactivity, MacDonald makes his Bellator MMA debut Friday at Bellator 179, when he faces British knockout artist Paul Daley. He’s using his veteran status not only to grab marquee matchups but to speak out on what he sees as important issues in the sport.
Doing an exclusive phone interview with Bleacher Report, MacDonald starts slowly. His deadpan voice is, at first, the vocal equivalent of a shrug.
But when you mention his old fighting home, that voice starts to gain speed.
“There’s a lot that comes to mind about the UFC,” MacDonald said. “I disagree with a lot of the moves they’re making. The organization that best suits me at the end of the day is Bellator. It’s just business.”
The more he talks, though, the easier it is to infer that it’s more than business. MacDonald sees things in Bellator’s practices that he says were lacking in the larger UFC.
“[Bellator fighters are] treated not like a number,” he said. “As [the UFC] has gotten bigger, we’re just cattle to them.”
To hear MacDonald tell it, the different atmospheres have tangible carryover effects. Something as putatively simple as a fighter walkout can foment fighter morale.
“In the production, [Bellator] has production value going on for their show,” MacDonald said. “There’s a little more time and energy going into it. The style of each and every fighter is evident in every way.”
That could be a real opportunity for MacDonald, who, for all his talent, still may face perceptions that he is bland or just “the guy from the Lawler fight.” He also remains somewhat in the shadow of his friend, mentor, and fellow welterweight Georges St-Pierre (they train together at Tristar Gym in Montreal).
“I’m feeling blessed and very prepared for this fight,” MacDonald recently told Gareth A. Davies of the Telegraph. “I’m ready to go and smash this guy. It’s a big honor. Who would’ve known when I was 14 or 15 years old starting martial arts that I’d be headlining a card in London? It feels really good to be out there. I’m really excited to put on a show for the London fans.”
That kind of motivation may also explain why he’s committed to a stoppage Friday against Daley.
“He’s a knockout striker…some of the best knockouts in the game,” MacDonald said of his opponent. “He doesn’t quit. I’m going to go out there and put him away. I’m gonna finish him. It’s as simple as that.”
After fighting only twice since 2015, MacDonald is ready to compete and win again. Part of that inactivity falls on Bellator, which signed him in August but did not immediately book an opponent for him.
But it’s all water under the bridge now, as MacDonald surges back into the limelight and, he hopes, the win column. If MacDonald gets his way, it will be the first of many happy returns in a new home that seems to suit him well.
“There are great fights and great fighters in both places,” MacDonald said. “Bellator is picking up some of the best talent in the business. … I want to fight three or four times a year, at a minimum.”
All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Scott Coker has confirmed what most analysts and fans had anticipated. The winner of Rory MacDonald vs. Paul Daley at Bellator 179 will receive a welterweight title opportunity. Coker confirmed the news during a media conference call (via MMAFighting.com). Champion Douglas Lima is set to defend his title against Lorenz Larkin at Bellator NYC on […]
Scott Coker has confirmed what most analysts and fans had anticipated. The winner of Rory MacDonald vs. Paul Daley at Bellator 179 will receive a welterweight title opportunity. Coker confirmed the news during a media conference call (via MMAFighting.com). Champion Douglas Lima is set to defend his title against Lorenz Larkin at Bellator NYC on […]
Six years ago this week, MMA got its benchmark for the best five minutes imaginable.
Strikeforce, a promotion that was the closest thing the UFC had to a North American competitor at the time, took to the airwaves with Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley and, …
Six years ago this week, MMA got its benchmark for the best five minutes imaginable.
Strikeforce, a promotion that was the closest thing the UFC had to a North American competitor at the time, took to the airwaves with Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley and, appropriately, matched Nick Diaz against Paul Daley in the main event.
The lead-up was glorious, as is usually the case with any bout involving Diaz. There was heated trash talk, mean-mugging, threats and obvious intention to do harm, but the brash Brit opposing him was up to the task. Daley, a knockout artist in his own right, appeared hellbent on showing the world that the dominance of Diaz—a winner of nine in a row coming into their bout—was a mirage.
Most felt Diaz had an easy path to victory if he were to score a takedown on Daley, a fantastic, explosive kickboxer with limited ground skills. Diaz, however, elected to keep the fight upright to prove he could outstrike one of the top 170-pound strikers alive if for no other reason than that most felt it wasn’t an optimal path to victory for him.
The results were sublime.
For five minutes, the two men snarled and swung, whirling around the cage and landing shots from every angle. Both were dropped and recovered, Daley’s power being proved the realest of real and Diaz’s volume eventually overwhelming his man after his chin kept him in it on a number of occasions.
It is essentially an objectively proven fact that, when Diaz got his hand raised at the end of the tilt, he was being named the victor of the best single-round fight in the history of MMA.
People still ask him about it.