Rory MacDonald doesn’t believe his fight against Robbie Lawler for the welterweight title at UFC 189 was a clean one. “The Red King” once rode a three fight win streak over the likes of UFC welterweights Demian Maia, Tyron Woodley, and Tarec Saffiedine that earned him a shot at “The Ruthless One’s” then-170-pound crown. The […]
Rory MacDonald doesn’t believe his fight against Robbie Lawler for the welterweight title at UFC 189 was a clean one.
“The Red King” once rode a three fight win streak over the likes of UFC welterweights Demian Maia, Tyron Woodley, and Tarec Saffiedine that earned him a shot at “The Ruthless One’s” then-170-pound crown. The pair co-main evented UFC 189 on pay-per-view (PPV) from Las Vegas an put on the Fight Of The Year in an epic 25-minute back-and-forth blood bath.
MacDonald seemed to have the fight in the bag heading into the fifth round on the judges’ scorecards, however, after suffering a broken nose and taking repeated shots to the face from Lawler, the pain was too much to endure and the Canadian was finished just a minute into the round. MacDonald has since departed from the UFC in favor of joining Bellator MMA, and recently held a Reddit ‘Ask Me Anything’ to answer some fan questions.
During the Q&A a fan asked MacDonald if he believes Lawler was on PEDs for the fight, to which he responded that he is ‘convinced’ he was (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“I’m convinced he was,” MacDonald said.
He also offered his thoughts on current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, who he has defeated inside the Octagon before:
“I think Tyron is a very strong competitor,” MacDonald wrote. “Very strategic, athletic, but I am aware of his weaknesses also.”
MacDonald’s Bellator MMA debut was a successful one as he defeated Paul Daley via second round submission. While he did note that a match-up with newly-acquired middleweight Gegard Mousasi is possible, his eyes are still fixed on welterweight gold:
“I believe if my next fight is for the title, I will beat (Bellator welterweight champion Douglas) Lima then fight the winner of Mousasi vs. (Bellator middleweight champion Rafael) Carvalho,” MacDonald wrote.
The UFC heavyweight’s tweet to Dana White provokes questions over the recent growth in the introduction of interim belts.
When all else fails, introduce an interim title to the mix. Not the words of the UFC top brass, although in the past couple of months we have seen the introduction of a secondary belt to the featherweight and lightweight divisions in times of promotional crisis, and the absence of a champion [McGregor].
The decision drew criticism from some, who felt that it was a weak effort on behalf of the promotion to make the PPV event worthwhile. Conor McGregor was simultaneously stripped of (or voluntarily relinquished) his 145 pound strap, with the winner of the Holloway/Pettis strap facing [new champion] Jose Aldo for the “real” title. From the promotions perspective, selling the fight as a title eliminator would not have held as much weight without a physical belt, given the UFC’s track record for reneging on title-shot promises.
While fans and associates of Conor McGregor were among the first to ridicule the introduction of the belt, McGregor himself was not averse to hoisting the interim gold over his head in his win over Chad Mendes at UFC 189. These belts arguably grant the victor with an elevation on their stock, but to many fans they are somewhat worthless in the grand scheme.
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson was made official for UFC 209 this week, in a fight spiced up (once again) by an interim belt. McGregor is likely out of action until the end of the year, so the possibility of the winner between the Russian and the American having to defend (and possibly lose – confirmation, Dana?) the title of Interim Champion makes for even more confusion.
What makes this scenario unique, however, is that both guys are solidly in the #1 & #2 spots in the lightweight rankings, so the result should logically determine the challenger to the Irishman’s strap, right? Tyron Woodley v Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson is a title fight on the ‘209 card, so it is not as though the UFC are in a similar position to the Holloway v Pettis situation.
UFC’s Ben Rothwell sent a cheeky tweet to UFC president Dana White on Friday, appearing to poke fun at the President for this recent rise in interim belts:
One may argue that the new owners of the world’s chief MMA promotion are responsible for the rise in secondary titles, and being a business with finance at the forefront of its operations, it is a valid argument. Conjecture of motives aside, the introduction of a litany of belts has led to a series of mismatches, and a ton of promotional disputes in boxing – let us hope that the UFC are not planning on adopting a similar model of throwing a belt into the mix in just any fight.
The UFC heavyweight’s tweet to Dana White provokes questions over the recent growth in the introduction of interim belts.
When all else fails, introduce an interim title to the mix. Not the words of the UFC top brass, although in the past couple of months we have seen the introduction of a secondary belt to the featherweight and lightweight divisions in times of promotional crisis, and the absence of a champion [McGregor].
The decision drew criticism from some, who felt that it was a weak effort on behalf of the promotion to make the PPV event worthwhile. Conor McGregor was simultaneously stripped of (or voluntarily relinquished) his 145 pound strap, with the winner of the Holloway/Pettis strap facing [new champion] Jose Aldo for the “real” title. From the promotions perspective, selling the fight as a title eliminator would not have held as much weight without a physical belt, given the UFC’s track record for reneging on title-shot promises.
While fans and associates of Conor McGregor were among the first to ridicule the introduction of the belt, McGregor himself was not averse to hoisting the interim gold over his head in his win over Chad Mendes at UFC 189. These belts arguably grant the victor with an elevation on their stock, but to many fans they are somewhat worthless in the grand scheme.
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson was made official for UFC 209 this week, in a fight spiced up (once again) by an interim belt. McGregor is likely out of action until the end of the year, so the possibility of the winner between the Russian and the American having to defend (and possibly lose – confirmation, Dana?) the title of Interim Champion makes for even more confusion.
What makes this scenario unique, however, is that both guys are solidly in the #1 & #2 spots in the lightweight rankings, so the result should logically determine the challenger to the Irishman’s strap, right? Tyron Woodley v Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson is a title fight on the ‘209 card, so it is not as though the UFC are in a similar position to the Holloway v Pettis situation.
UFC’s Ben Rothwell sent a cheeky tweet to UFC president Dana White on Friday, appearing to poke fun at the President for this recent rise in interim belts:
Dear @danawhite, there must be an interim title at stake between McGregor&Mayweather,otherwise I just don't find it interesting enough.Thanx
One may argue that the new owners of the world’s chief MMA promotion are responsible for the rise in secondary titles, and being a business with finance at the forefront of its operations, it is a valid argument. Conjecture of motives aside, the introduction of a litany of belts has led to a series of mismatches, and a ton of promotional disputes in boxing – let us hope that the UFC are not planning on adopting a similar model of throwing a belt into the mix in just any fight.
Featherweight champion Conor McGregor appeared quite confident at the UFC 205 press conference earlier this week regarding his upcoming lightweight title fight with 155-pound champion Eddie Alvarez, saying that he’s going to knock out “The Silent Assassin” inside of one round. Alvarez, who’s coming of of a brutal first round stoppage victory over Rafael dos
Featherweight champion Conor McGregor appeared quite confident at the UFC 205 press conference earlier this week regarding his upcoming lightweight title fight with 155-pound champion Eddie Alvarez, saying that he’s going to knock out “The Silent Assassin” inside of one round.
Alvarez, who’s coming of of a brutal first round stoppage victory over Rafael dos Anjos, is also confident in his chances against the Irishman, recently telling Talking Brawls podcast that he’s going to do ‘whatever the f*ck’ he wants ‘all f*cking night’:
“I’ll do whatever the f*ck I want in any aspect against him. The opponents he’s fought allow him to look great. That’s the issue,” he said. That’s what these WWF fans who follow him don’t see. They see a guy who’s fighting or playing to his strengths so he can do what he wants and be good at it. I’ll do whatever the fuck I want. If I want to stand, I’ll stand. He don’t move his head, he gets hit a ton. Chad Mendes has a tiny little reach and was popping him all over the place with overhand rights and left hooks before he took him down. His defense is atrocious. His offense is good. He’s offensively a good fighter when it comes to boxing and things but his defense is fucking terrible. A guy like me, I can go wherever. I can kick, I can punch, I can takedown, I can submit, and I can do it all f*cking night.”
Mendes, although ultimately falling to McGregor’s patented left hand in the second round of their July 2015 interim title bout, saw great success against the “Notorious” one in the opening round, using his wrestling and ground-and-pound to bloody McGregor’s face. Since that fight, McGregor has knocked out Jose Aldo and split wins and losses with Nate Diaz.
Stylistically, what do you make of UFC 205’s main event? Do you expect Alvarez to outclass McGregor, or will the “Notorious” one score another prolific knockout and add more gold to his trophy case?
As the biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion of all time, the UFC has whipped up some huge fights in its history with some of the baddest men on the planet going head-to-head against one another. Some fights between two top competitors don’t quite live up to the hype, however, as the bout ends up
As the biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion of all time, the UFC has whipped up some huge fights in its history with some of the baddest men on the planet going head-to-head against one another.
Some fights between two top competitors don’t quite live up to the hype, however, as the bout ends up putting fight fans to sleep rather than keeping them on the edge of their seat for 25 minutes or less.
Then, once in a blue moon, we get a fight that not only lives up to the hype, but exceeds it tremendously. That, my friends, is what we have compiled for you today, the top 10 biggest fights in UFC history that have ended with historic finishes. Let’s begin……
10. Cain Velasquez vs. Fabricio Werdum UFC – 188
We kick off our list in the big boys’ division, where two of the most dangerous heavyweights of all time clashed for the biggest prize in MMA.
Coming off of nearly a two-year layoff from the sport, Cain Velasquez would attempt to unify his title with the then-interim heavyweight champ Fabricio Werdum who was on a five-fight win streak.
The opening rounds were a bit back-and-forth and the arena in Mexico City was hot for their native Velasquez, however, the altitude proved to be too much for ‘Cardio Cain’ to handle as he gassed out in the third round.
Velasquez then shot in for a takedown on the Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist and was immediately wrapped up in a nasty guillotine choke. Velasquez had no other choice but to tap out and make Werdum the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
When word arrived last Wednesday that longtime top UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald was leaving the promotion to sign a lucrative new contract with Bellator MMA, it didn’t exactly come as a surprise. MacDonald had hinted at testing free agency on ‘The MMA Hour’ with Ariel Helwani in March, something that was rumored to have, among other
When word arrived last Wednesday that longtime top UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald was leaving the promotion to sign a lucrative new contract with Bellator MMA, it didn’t exactly come as a surprise.
MacDonald had hinted at testing free agency on ‘The MMA Hour’ with Ariel Helwani in March, something that was rumored to have, among other things, played an indirect part in the UFC’s ban of Helwani and his team at June 4’s UFC 199 from Inglewood, California. But those were just rumors, and MacDonald’s words proved much more direct as he became arguably Bellator’s biggest free agent signee based on whether or not you believe he’s a bigger star than former UFC lightweight champ Benson Henderson, who also signed with Bellator after his last UFC contract was up.
Courtesy of FightHubTV
In the days since McDonald’s move was made official, “The Red King” has absolutely taken his former employers to task on a litany of topics, which obviously began with fighter pay, an issue that greatly affected MacDonald in recent years, namely after his UFC 189 war with Robbie Lawler:
“We’re gonna build a great business together. Bellator believes in me; I believe in the company. We’re gonna take it to the next level. We’re gonna take over.We’re gonna take Bellator into Canada and we’re gonna do it big. We’re gonna reinvigorate that market. Those fans are gonna get a proper fight show again.
“The tide is turning. For me, that title fight against Robbie was an eye-opener. It was like, OK we got to the show where you wanted to go, it didn’t work out, but now it’s time to start making some money.”
MacDonald also sounded off about the UFC’s oft-blasted Reebok deal (whom he’s still technically sponsored by), first deeming it ‘boring’ in his initial statement with Bellator and then noting that the UFC didn’t treat fighters with respect in that regard on yesterday’s episode of ‘The MMA Hour’:
“Where I was before, everyone is wearing the same uniforms now, we’re all walking out of the same, boring dressing room or the gate. It’s boring. People are tired of that.”
“I just think the UFC went about it the wrong way. They didn’t really think of the fighters, I don’t think, even though I think they’re trying to make it out like they were. There was no discussion. It was just, okay, this is happening and deal with it, kind of thing. And that’s not very respectful. I don’t think that was a very good move.”
“The Red King” then capped it off by leveling some serious allegations about Lawler’s drug tests for their classic bout at UFC 189, where he said he ‘didn’t want to point fingers,’ but did exactly that:
“I don’t really want to speak too loud about it, but it’s something that really grabbed my attention and I think a lot of people are going to be very interested to hear about this if it actually is true, I have to do my research.
“The fact that whatever happened in there, if this is true, it pisses me right off to my core. Some test results came out four times higher than the limit for my fight with him. It could be bullshit. That’s why we have to look into it. I don’t want to start pointing fingers or anything. Look at that team’s history. It makes me very suspicious but I can’t go out and start saying for sure without making my research that all this is true.”
Now, while it’s no surprise to hear the former title challenger go public with some of the gripes he had that made him leave the UFC in the first place, this new version of MacDonald is undoubtedly unlike the one we’ve seen in the UFC for the past six years.
The former “Canadian Psycho” who quickly rose to prominence beginning as a green 20-year-old did so mainly with his almost Terminator’-like intensity, winning bouts with a quiet, cold, and calculating demeanor that showcased his all-around skillset as rarely hyped fights in the media, choosing to instead move on to the next challenge with an at-times blank stare.
The audible bravado of the Conor McGregors and Chael Sonnens was never “The Red King’s” focus or style. But this new version of him seems to have taken at least a small page out of both of those successful fighters’ books, and he’s using it run his former employer’s reputation through the muck. That’s understandable, with MacDonald making a paltry $59,000 for his fifth round TKO loss to Lawler in the co-main event of UFC 189 last July, a shocking finding that had the entire MMA world up in arms as an overall indictment of the UFC’s fighter treatment practices and also a calling for needed change to come.
MacDonald suffered a badly broken nose in the loss to Lawler, which he nearly finished himself with a third round head kick and onslaught of elbows and punches. The injury was only aggravated in training and then again when he re-broke it in a decision loss to top-ranked contender Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in Ottawa this June.
He acknowledged that he had to take the time needed to surgically repair his nose, but by that point, you have to wonder if the UFC had the thought that they’d used MacDonald for their purposes, and, as a highly recognizable name with two losses to the Nos. 1 and 2 fighters in possibly their most talent-rich division, he wasn’t worth the lofty asking price he now demanded. It’s hard to argue with that cold kind of logic from a purely business standpoint; MacDonald may be only 27 with the prime years of his career presumably ahead of him, but beneath the surface, he’s also a fighter who has a ton of accumulated miles on his body after starting training MMA at only 14.
The potential returns of his mentor Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz to the 170-pound fray may have also made him expendable to the notoriously cutthroat promotion. The recurring injury is a cause for concern as well.
However, this is a competitor who owns wins over current champion Tyron Woodley (and in dominant style) and No. 3 contender Demian Maia, who has won six straight fights after he tapped out Carlos Condit at UFC Vancouver last Saturday. It could also be argued we didn’t see the real MacDonald against Thompson. He still may have lost to “Wonderboy,” but it just didn’t seem like MacDonald’s true killer instinct was on display in June.
The only confirmation – or disproving – of that theory will come when MacDonald steps into the Bellator cage sometime next year, but easier fights and bigger paydays will undoubtedly await him there. He did admit the UFC was responsible for where he was at, but him throwing some significant shade at the UFC for the things he felt they did wrong could serve to galvanize a fighter base that is searching for a voice to help them make the money they should and be treated how they should be treated.
In that regard, MacDonald’s departure could be a wholly productive one for MMA as a whole, not just the pocketbook that has been decidedly too thin for years now. You also have to wonder if this new style where MacDonald is simply putting the UFC on blast in a public forum while claiming a desire to ‘not point fingers’ is a hint of bitterness at an otherwise illustrious career that fell just short of reaching the absolute pinnacle against the best.
Time will tell, and this new MacDonald is making headlines. He could also fight for two or three years in Bellator, come back to the UFC, and finally win the belt that many had made a foregone conclusion for him after his second UFC affair.
At this rate, however, they may not want him back.
Just a few short days after he officially signed with Bellator MMA as arguably the UFC’s most high-profile free agent defector, top-ranked welterweight Rory MacDonald has come out with some potentially game-breaking news about why part of the reason he left the Octagon. According to MacDonald during an appearance on ‘The MMA Hour’ today (transcribed
Just a few short days after he officially signed with Bellator MMA as arguably the UFC’s most high-profile free agent defector, top-ranked welterweight Rory MacDonald has come out with some potentially game-breaking news about why part of the reason he left the Octagon.
According to MacDonald during an appearance on ‘The MMA Hour’ today (transcribed via MMA Mania), “The Red King” has received some ‘interesting information’ about former welterweight champ Robbie Lawler being involved in some funny business surrounding the drug tests for his all-out classic war with MacDonald in the co-main event of UFC 189:
“To answer your question about leaving UFC without winning a belt, yeah I am. Actually right before this conversation, something very interesting came up to me. We are going to have to see where it goes, but it has something to do with the title fight against Robbie Lawler. Some very interesting information just came about. We’ll see what happens with that.”
MacDonald added that he wasn’t going to cause a big stir about the scenario just, because he still had more facts to gather and research to do. If it did prove to be valid, however, “The Red King” said it would be big news.
With performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) quite possibly the hottest overall topic in MMA today, MacDonald laid out his career as a clean fighter, and he would be understandably angered if Lawler did indeed beat him him in perhaps the bloodiest UFC war of all-time while he was on steroids:
“I don’t really want to speak too loud about it, but it’s something that really grabbed my attention and I think a lot of people are going to be very interested to hear about this if it actually is true, I have to do my research.”
“But it could be a potentially very big thing and it pisses me off. It pisses me right off to hear about it, to be honest. I feel very robbed. I worked hard for that fight and I fought my heart out. I left everything in there. I left my soul and I really left everything out there. I came in honest, and I always have my entire career. I don’t play with any dirty drugs, any performance enhancers or something I don’t believe in morally. I always believe in myself that if I work hard, work on my techniques, train hard that I can get to the top and be the best.”
With his Bellator debut pushed back to sometime in the summer of 2017 due to the severely broken nose he suffered against Lawler, “The Red King” seemed to get more heated as he kept discussing Lawler’s potential failure. He described a scene where some of “Ruthless’s” test results were at four times that of a normal human, and he also cited American Top Team’s seedy history with PEDs.
Although he would certainly have a right to be furious were that the case, MacDonald recollected himself as he remembered he didn’t yet have the facts of the matter:
“The fact that whatever happened in there, if this is true, it pisses me right off to my core. Some test results came out four times higher than the limit for my fight with him. It could be bullshit. That’s why we have to look into it. I don’t want to start pointing fingers or anything. Look at that team’s history. It makes me very suspicious but I can’t go out and start saying for sure without making my research that all this is true.”
While obviously nothing can be proven against Lawler right now, it would be a significant black eye on the sport of MMA were he to have survived a vicious third round head kick and barrage of follow-up strikes to finish “The Red King” with a gruesome fifth round onslaught thanks to PED use the very weekend that the UFC’s new and increased drug testing partnership with USADA was unveiled.
It would seem that MacDonald would have to be at least somewhat certain in his accusations to unveil such a rumor live on MMA’s most-watched interview show, but it could be him just throwing more shade on the UFC after freeing himself from their grasp. “The Red King” could have just a bit of sour grapes because of his failed title bid that is now affecting his ability to fight.
Either way, it’d be a shame for steroids to mar what many people feel was the greatest MMA bout of all time.
10. Cain Velasquez vs. Fabricio Werdum UFC – 188
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