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Rory MacDonald Says He’s 100 Percent, ‘Overtrained’ for Carlos Condit

Rising UFC welterweight contender Rory MacDonald said Monday that he is fully recovered from a neck injury that derailed his ballyhooed rematch with Carlos Condit.”My neck and back is not an issue anymore. It doesn’t bother me at all,” MacDonald …

Rising UFC welterweight contender Rory MacDonald said Monday that he is fully recovered from a neck injury that derailed his ballyhooed rematch with Carlos Condit.

“My neck and back is not an issue anymore. It doesn’t bother me at all,” MacDonald said Monday on The MMA Hour broadcast.

The bout, originally scheduled for March 16 at UFC 158, was cancelled in February after MacDonald sustained the injury. He also was unable to train for about a month.

The news disappointed fight fans, who were excited to watch the 23-year-old MacDonald (14-1, 5-1 in UFC) try to take revenge against the only man to defeat him in his professional MMA career.

Back in 2010, at UFC 115, many viewers and pundits believed MacDonald was headed for a decision victory when Condit scored a TKO with seven seconds remaining in the contest. The UFC deemed the effort to be the Fight of the Night for UFC 115.

Apparently, MacDonald was pretty excited by the opportunity himself. On Monday, he chalked up the injury to overtraining for Condit, who MacDonald personally called out in December.

“I’m just going to try to train similar to the fight against B.J.,” MacDonald said, referencing his December thrashing of B.J. Penn. “I think I was too anxious when they announced I was going to fight Carlos…Sometimes I overtrain. And sometimes I just have to settle down.”

After MacDonald pulled out of UFC 158, Condit instead faced Johny Hendricks. Condit fought well but lost by unanimous decision.

Condit (28-7) does not currently have another announced opponent. Hendricks is now expected to fight next for the UFC welterweight title, currently held by Georges St-Pierre.

MacDonald, meanwhile, is set to face another contender in Jake Ellenberger, who is on a two-fight win streak and is known for dishing out big knockouts. The two will fight on July 27 at UFC on Fox 8.

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Fight-Shuffling of the Day: Jorge Masvidal Replaces Reza Madadi Against Michael Chiesa at UFC on Fox 8

(Jorge Masvidal, a man after our own heart | Photo CombatLifestyle)

Undefeated TUF 15 champion Michael Chiesa will now face former Strikeforce lightweight title challenger Jorge Masvidal on the UFC on Fox 8 card which goes down on July 27th in Seattle, WA. Chiesa was originally scheduled to face Swedish submission machine Reza Madadi until visa issues forced him out of the bout this week. Seems to be a lot of that going around…

The news was broken on Fuel TV’s UFC Tonight program last night. Chiesa is coming off of a submission win this past February at UFC 157 and Masvidal most recently fought and won three weeks ago in his UFC debut at UFC on Fox 7.

UFC on Fox 8 is headlined by a flyweight title bout between champion Demetrious Johnson and John Moraga, as well as a welterweight bout between top contenders Rory MacDonald and Jake Ellenberger.

The Chiesa/Masvidal fight is an interesting one because of what a big opportunity it is for both guys. Masvidal gets a big name in just his second UFC bout and a chance to become more known to fans. Chiesa’s opportunity is more of personal growth than anything, since it is a chance for him to fight a super tough veteran of the division and see how he stacks up – though with the negative being that only niche fans really know how good Masvidal is.

Who ya got, Nation? “GameBred” or “The Fighting Hippie?”

– Elias Cepeda

(Jorge Masvidal, a man after our own heart | Photo CombatLifestyle)

UFC on Fox 8 is headlined by a flyweight title bout between champion Demetrious Johnson and John Moraga, as well as a welterweight bout between top contenders Rory MacDonald and Jake Ellenberger.

Who ya got, Nation? “GameBred” or “The Fighting Hippie?”

– Elias Cepeda

Rory MacDonald Victory over Jake Ellenberger Could Have Repercussions for GSP

Something seems familiar here. Young MMA fighter moves to all-star training camp and begins training with an established superstar in the same weight division he competes in. When asked if the two would ever consider fighting, both fighters talk of bro…

Something seems familiar here.

Young MMA fighter moves to all-star training camp and begins training with an established superstar in the same weight division he competes in. When asked if the two would ever consider fighting, both fighters talk of brotherhood and of how they would never step into the cage and face each other. But something strange starts to happen: The young fighter starts climbing the ranks, and all signs point to a fight with the more veteran fighter, and the “nevers” start to turn to “we’ll sees.”

And that’s when things get difficult.

We saw how this scenario played out between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans when Jones joined Jackson’s MMA, and now we’re seemingly headed down a similar road with UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and top-ranked training partner at Tristar Gym Rory MacDonald.

In December of last year, MacDonald, speaking at the UFC on Fox 5 post-fight press conference (via MMAFighting.com), said:

I don’t know. I’m not there yet. I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. I don’t feel that I need to fight Georges, I don’t think it’s going to happen. It won’t happen. Me and him are friends, he’s done a lot for me, I’m very grateful for that. I don’t want to stab him in the back and I don’t want to wreck my opportunity training at Tristar.

That “It won’t happen” stance may be softening a bit. MacDonald, who is set to face Jake Ellenberger at UFC on Fox 8 in July, recently spoke to Alchemist Radio and said: “We’ll figure it out when the day comes. We’re not at that bridge yet and we’ll do what we have to do as teammates and figure out what works best. When the time comes we’ll settle the matter inside the gym respectfully.” Clearly missing from MacDonald’s recent comments are the outright dismissal he made a few months ago.

If MacDonald does get past Ellenberger and St-Pierre gets past his next expected opponent, Johny Hendricks, you can bet that the conversation will take place inside Tristar. If and when that talk does take place, the outcome will have significant repercussions for the fighters as well as the UFC.

If MacDonald and St-Pierre decide they cannot fight, the options are probably pretty limited for St-Pierre. One option would be retirement. That scenario seems very unlikely and would be very shocking, since St-Pierre is still at the top of his game at 31 years of age.

Other options for St-Pierre would be to relinquish his title and move weight divisions, but where would he move?

The UFC and many fans would love to see St-Pierre move up to middleweight and meet UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in a superfight. However there is another option, one St-Pierre seems more open to, and that’s the move down to lightweight.

On a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience (via MMAJunkie.com), St-Pierre said: “It would be easier for me to go fight at 155 than fighting at 185. I would be more at my weight naturally at 155.”

If Ellenberger and Hendricks have any say, the conversation between St-Pierre and MacDonald will not be needed, but if the two Canadian fighters do earn wins in their next bouts, oh to be a fly on the wall inside Tristar.

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Jake Ellenberger: Rory MacDonald Is ‘Nothing Special,’ Not a Top 10 Welterweight

UFC welterweight contender Jake Ellenberger isn’t thrilled to be fighting Rory MacDonald at UFC on FOX 8 in July, with the reason being that he doesn’t believe “Ares” is everything he’s cracked up to be. Speaking with MMA Digest, “The Juggernaut” …

Speaking with MMA Digest, “The Juggernaut” went off on his upcoming opponent, saying Macdonald doesn’t truly deserve a top-10 ranking and his hype comes from training alongside long-time divisional champ Georges St-Pierre.

“I’m not really sold on him. In my opinion the only top 10 guy in our division he’s fought he’s lost to, and that’s Carlos Condit. I think he’s definitely a young up and comer, but nothing special … It’s still surprising to me, for some reason some people in this industry think he’s a top five guy, which I don’t even think he’s a top 10 guy. But, for some reason he has a lot of hype. It must be because he trains with GSP. And he trains at that, whatever, he trains at that gym. I think I have fought and defeated tougher opponents in my UFC career than Rory MacDonald.”

Strong words from the heavy-handed wrestler, who has won eight of his past nine fights, with the sole setback being a stunning knockout loss against Martin Kampmann in June.

Most recently, Ellenberger earned his second “Knockout of the Night” bonus against Nate Marquardt at UFC 158 in March.

Other quality wins on his resume include rising lightweight prospect Pat Healy, Mike Pyle, Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez.

MacDonald certainly hasn’t lacked tough opponents in his 15 professional fights, scoring wins over Jordan Mein, Nate Diaz, Pyle and former two-divisional UFC champ BJ Penn.

Aside from Pyle, Carlos Condit is the only other common opponent between the two.

Ellenberger suffered a close split decision loss to “The Natural Born Killer” in September 2009, while MacDonald lost via a late third round TKO in June 2010 after controlling the first two rounds.

According to the UFC’s official rankings, MacDonald is the No. 3 welterweight in the world, with Ellenberger being pegged as No. 4.

Do Ellenberger’s comments hold any water or is this just the latest example of a fighter trying to hype an upcoming bout?

John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com and contributes MMA videos to The Young Turks Sports Show.

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Matt Mitrione Suspension Lifted, Will Meet Brendan Schaub at UFC on Fox 8

After being suspended for 17 days ago, Matt Mitrione has now officially been reinstated back into the UFC.UFC officials confirmed the news on Wednesday (via MMAJunkie.com).The candid heavyweight fighter felt the wrath of the UFC’s Code of Conduct polic…

After being suspended for 17 days ago, Matt Mitrione has now officially been reinstated back into the UFC.

UFC officials confirmed the news on Wednesday (via MMAJunkie.com).

The candid heavyweight fighter felt the wrath of the UFC’s Code of Conduct policy after making several disparaging remarks regarding transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox.

During an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Mitrione called Fox “a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak.” The UFC moved quickly and suspended Mitrione for what it deemed as “offensive and wholly unacceptable” comments in an official statement released immediately after the incident.

Over the weekend, UFC president Dana White admitted he wasn’t mad at Mitrione when speaking during the pre-fight media session for UFC on Fox 7.

According to White, Mitrione knows he crossed the line, and hopefully a hefty fine and suspension is more than enough to convince him and others to start being mindful of what they say.

“I’m not mad at Mitrione. He did something stupid. He knows he did something stupid. He knows the way he said it, he didn’t handle it the right way. He knows he did, so I can respect that,” said White (via MMAjunkie.com).

He was fined, too – enough to make him call me three times. I bet he’ll think. I bet before words come out of his mouth … he’s going to go, ‘I better not say that. That’s not good. That’s going to cost me some money.’

Mitrione was one of many fighters to voice disdain for Fox, who was born a man, competing in women’s MMA. Cain Velasquez, Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate have all voiced their concerns, but they chose to do so in a tactful manner, especially following Mitrione‘s suspension.

According to MMA journalist Loretta Hunt’s story in Sports Illustrated, Fox underwent sex reassignment surgery back in 2006, which also included supplemental hormonal therapy. She currently holds a 2-0 record as a professional fighter, with both victories coming by first-round stoppages.

Fortunately for Mitrione, he can now put this entire incident behind him and get back to fighting.

Along with news of his reinstatement, UFC officials also announced Mitrione would be competing at UFC on FOX 8 against fellow TUF season 10 castoff Brendan Schaub.

At UFC 157, Schaub rebounded from back-to-back losses with a rather forgettable unanimous decision victory over Lavar Johnson. Mitrione, on the other hand, is coming off a devastating 19-second knockout win over English heavyweight Philip De Fries.

UFC on Fox 8, which will be headlined by Demetrious Johnson and John Moraga, is scheduled for July 27 at the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington.

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UFC on FOX 8 Adds Demetrious Johnson vs. John Moraga Headliner; Matt Mitrione Comes Off Suspension to Fight Brendan Schaub

(John Moraga leaves Ulysses Gomez in a heap during his Octagon debut at UFC on FOX 4. Photo via Esther Lin/MMAFighting)

The UFC on FOX 8 bookings continue to pile up, with a pair of high-profile matchups announced last night by the UFC. First off, the July 27th event in Seattle now has an official main event: flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson vs. fast-rising challenger John Moraga, a matchup that was originally supposed to headline the TUF 17 Finale earlier this month before Mighty Mouse was forced to withdraw due to injury.

Johnson is coming off his first title defense in January — a unanimous decision win over John Dodson at UFC on FOX 6 — while Moraga’s two-fight stint in the UFC has produced stoppage victories over Ulysses Gomez and Chris Cariaso…and that’s pretty much all it takes to get a title-shot at 125 pounds these days. Before starting his MMA career, Moraga was a two-time All-American wrestler at Arizona State University, and he currently trains at The Lab in Phoenix alongside Benson Henderson and Jamie Varner.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the fighter-weight spectrum…

(John Moraga leaves Ulysses Gomez in a heap during his Octagon debut at UFC on FOX 4. Photo via Esther Lin/MMAFighting)

Meanwhile, on the other end of the fighter-weight spectrum, Matt Mitrione‘s suspension for being a jackass has ended after a long, arduous 15 days. (Meanwhile, War Machine is still allowed to speak freely. What a country.) That’s right, Meathead is being allowed back from time-out to fight Brendan Schaub at the UFC on FOX 8 event. Both fighters recently snapped two-fight losing streaks, with Mitrione hipbone-KO’ing Phil De Fries in 19 seconds at UFC on FUEL 9, and Schaub playing it safe against Lavar Johnson at UFC 157. I’m not calling this one a “win or get fired” fight, but let’s just say both men need to put on a good performance here to get back on the promotion’s good side.

And finally, that rumored Miesha Tate vs. Liz Carmouche women’s bantamweight fight appears to be a go for UFC on FOX 8 as well. Your thoughts on the matchups?