At face value, Rory MacDonald seems like the world’s best-dressed serial killer. But maybe he’s just a man of glaring contradictions.
He speaks with a slow, hesitant drawl, as if every word coming out is scraping the roof of his mouth. His …
At face value, Rory MacDonald seems like the world’s best-dressed serial killer. But maybe he’s just a man of glaring contradictions.
He speaks with a slow, hesitant drawl, as if every word coming out is scraping the roof of his mouth. His eyes are permanently transfixed in an emotionless gaze that makes you wonder what on earth is going on in the brain that lies just behind them. The guy is so cold and distant in interviews, and so remorseless in his promises of blood and pain inside the Octagon, that I’m beginning to wonder if Dexter was based on a true story. While on a UFC media conference call (h/t MMA Mania), MacDonald said of opponent Jake Ellenberger:
I don’t really care. It doesn‘t really bother me either way, I don’t really care about the disrespect or whatever. I just get in there and fight my fight. If they suffer, they suffer. I don’t really care if they’re nice or if they’re an a–hole.
Creepy. MacDonald is the Albert Fish of mixed martial arts. And that’s not a compliment.
But then you see his full body of work as a human being and it’s obvious the 24-year-old Canadian is a man of layers. He has complexities and multitudes that could leave a FBI profiler running for cover. He dresses like an issue of GQcame to life and attacked him; his button-down shirts fit him a size too small, his ties are skinny and sleek, as if a silk snake was slithering down his chest, and he’s been known to rock knee-length raincoats when he’s already inside and decidedly dry.
Oh, and then there are the sweaters. Good lord, the sweaters. MacDonald has a million of them, each one flamboyantly fancier than the last—buttons and pockets and tassels galore over fabrics made from the finest cottons and wools. Then he tops the whole look off with some thick-framed shades and greased back hair ripped from Don Draper fantasy camp.
If MacDonald is a monstrous killer, he sure is a fabulous one. And that’s the conundrum. What is this kid really about? Who is he? What does he want? And seriously, where does he buy those sweaters?
There have been other fighters with the same morbid demeanor and business-like approach to pounding plasma out of people’s foreheads. FedorEmelianenko practically invented it. But, unlike MacDonald, Emelianenko actually played the part through and through. He lived in Russia’s distant wilderness and spent his free time smashing giant tires with a sledgehammer and beating up grizzly bears. He prayed to God for fashion advice. Everything about him made sense in a nonsensical way. He was a mystery mountain man who acted like every moment of his career was taking place in a molasses mudslide, and it worked.
MacDonald doesn’t make any sense. He’s all over the place. One minute he’s hanging with buddy Mike Ricci in high-priced designer jeans, the next he’s staring into an interviewer’s soul and pledging a slow-cooked slaying with fixings of broken bones.
I get it. People can have dichotomies. But metro and mental? It’s as jarring as Ray Lewis in a tutu. But it sure makes MacDonald intriguing.
Throw in his youth and elite fighting acumen, and this might just be the most interesting fighter in the UFC. Add his friendship and stout allegiance to Georges St-Pierre, the man standing between him and a sparkling new accessory (championship belts and cardigans complement each other perfectly), and all the pondering over whether he’ll fight him or move to middleweight, and you got a living, breathing question mark.
On Saturday, MacDonald faces Jake Ellenberger who is as single-minded and simple as MacDonald is confusing. Ellenberger, also known as “The Juggernaut”, runs over people like a big green tractor plows through open field in his home state of Nebraska. It will be a clash of a known commodity and a swirling abyss of uncertainty. Ellenberger has both beaten and lost to elite welterweights (Jake Shields, Carlos Condit, Martin Kampmann), while MacDonald’s biggest win is fittingly overB.J. Penn, who is also one giant head scratcher. The winner will be on the fast track to a title shot.
Or will he?
If Ellenberger wins, he’d be at most one more fight away from the title. He would be 9-2 in the UFC with consecutive wins over top-10 opponents and is one of the few welterweights left who hasn’t already been horizontally annihilated by GSP.
But MacDonald? An impressive victory here might force his hand. To do what, we can’t be sure, but topping the No. 4 fighter in the division doesn’t leave him anywhere to go but up.
And up is St-Pierre, MacDonald’s forbidden fruit. His last temptation.
At that point it’s fight or flight. MacDonald will either have to flee the division or combat his friend, and something behind those dead eyes tells me that despite his promises, MacDonald will be doing the latter.
It all adds to the intrigue of what should make for the best—and most important—fight this Saturday. Another day, another layer to the confounding onion (or cake) that is Rory MacDonald. Maybe after he fights Ellenberger we’ll get a firmer grasp on what he’s really about.
Often overlooked, perhaps because he played second fiddle to the great Fedor Emelianenko for so long, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira remains on the short list of the best heavyweights of all time. As he prepares to hit the cage for what could be the final ti…
Often overlooked, perhaps because he played second fiddle to the great FedorEmelianenko for so long, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira remains on the short list of the best heavyweights of all time. As he prepares to hit the cage for what could be the final time this weekend in his native Brazil, let’s journey back in time to hit the highs and the lows of what will surely go down as a Hall of Fame career.
January 2000
While Nogueira actually made his pro debut the previous year, it was this win over established star Jeremy Horn that caught the attention of hardcore fans globally. It was one thing to win a couple of fights in Japan’s Rings promotion, where the action was often fixed and the fighters were not always world class competitors.
But Jeremy Horn was the real thing, and beating him for Jamie Levine’s old World Extreme Fighting promotion meant Nogueira was a young fighter worth watching closely.
February 2001
After losing an awful decision to Dan Henderson the previous February, Nogueira got a second chance to win the Rings King of Kings tournament. This time he left nothing to chance, choking out HiromitsuKanehara in the semifinals and Valentijn Overeem in the finals to win the prestigious tournament that featured Horn, Randy Couture, KiyoshiTamura, Volk Han and FedorEmelianenko among others.
September 2001
Nogueira beat Pride Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Mark Coleman with a triangle armbar in the first round. Before the fight, Nogueira told the Japanese press he was excited to join the big leagues of MMA:
It was my long wish to enter Pride. It is one of the best Vale Tudo competitions, and it is great to be able to fight with the best Vale Tudo warriors. Of those, Coleman, one of the best fighters, was chosen as my opponent. That is what I wanted. I am ready physically and mentally. I can fight with anybody. I have already studied Coleman’s fighting style. I am looking forward to fighting with him.
The dominant win catapulted the Brazilian jiu jitsu standout to the top of many pundit’s heavyweight top 10 lists.
August 2002
Before an injury to his orbital bone turned him into a laughingstock, former NFL and pro wrestling prospect Bob Sapp was one of the scariest men in the sport. More than 300 pounds of solid muscle with bad intentions, Sapp guaranteed a bad night for even the best fighters. Inexperienced, but in a good way that allowed him to ignore dangers that might have slowed smarter fighters, Sapp ran roughshod over professional kickboxing and MMA in Japan.
“I didn’t know anything about fighting. So I was confident I was going to win. The best way I could win is to do what I could do naturally. I just came from pro wrestling so I only knew mainly pro wrestling moves. So, you can see during the fight, I used it,” Sapp told me in a 2007 interview. Sapp tossed Nogueira around like the proverbial rag doll, once even “power-bombing” him right on his head, a pro wrestling move that Sapp had worked on with training partner Josh Barnett.
“Josh was like ‘Bob you don’t know anything about MMA so just do it. Man you can do that. You’re strong enough to do it. Do it and you’ll hit every highlight reel, I’ll tell you that much.’ I said ‘I’ll do it, whatever.’ What happens with kickboxing, what happens with MMA is that everyone follows a rule of thumb and gets used to doing the same stuff all the time. And there’s a million different moves in there that you can do. And nobody really wants to do them. But when you don’t know anything, you can do everything and let your mind go crazy and utilize the essential parts of MMA. Use the basics and the rest is up to the individual.”
Nogueira was actually briefly unconscious after the Sapp slam. But he awoke long enough to tame the beast in one of the most legendary bouts in MMA history. The fight was one of three main events that drew a reported 91,107 to Tokyo’s National Stadium. Though that number is likely inflated, it remains the largest crowd ever to witness an MMA show live.
March 2003
Nogueira is outfoxed by rising Russian star FedorEmelianenko, who beat him to the punch on the ground and on his feet to become the new Pride champion. Nogueira went into the fight with a serious back injury, an ailment he kept quiet until Sam Sheridan wrote about it for A Fighter’s Heart.
“For like two months I was not walking well,” Nogueira told Sheridan. “I was coming down in my shape, and he was in the best shape he’s ever been in.”
November 2003
More than 60,000 fans packed the Tokyo Dome to see Nogueira take on fearsome kickboxerMirco “Cro Cop” Filopovic for the interim heavyweight title. Before the bout, Nogueira went to Wanderlei Silva, a fierce rival of his Brazilian Top Team teammates, for advice on how to survive the Croatian striker.
“I had thoroughly studied Mirko’s fights by watching the videos. Among those, it was Wanderlei who did the best fight,” Nogueira told Weekly Gong magazine.
“No matter how many times he got middle punches, Wanderlei never dropped his hands down from his guard for the head and kept on moving all the time. This became a clue for my fight to come. So when I met Wanderlei, I asked him ‘How was a Mirko’s body punch? Is it endurable?'”
Silva advised that you could survive Cro Cop’s body shots, but not his high kick to the head. The right kick, famously, would send you to the hospital. The left? The cemetery.
Nogueira avoided those telling blows and eventually submitted the striker with a second-round armbar.
December 2004
After a rematch with FedorEmelianenko was stopped early after a cut from an inadvertent headbutt, Nogueira finally got an opportunity to avenge his loss and reclaim his spot as the world’s best heavyweight.
Though he liked Fedor, the two were fierce rivals, pushing each other towards greatness.
“I’m much better than I was two years ago,” Rodrigo told Sheridan on the eve of the fight. “Before I had him, I felt like ‘I am going to train for what?'”
Nogueira’s plan in the return bout was to box with the champion, hoping his superior technique could prevail. Instead, Fedor‘s blinding speed told the tale. He battered Nogueira for 20 solid minutes, forever establishing his place as the top heavyweight of his era.
September 2006
In a career full of great fights, this barn burner with Josh Barnett stands out as one of the very best. It’s the end that people will remember, Nogueira screaming in pain as Barnett finally locked in a kneebar in the closing seconds.
But the action was furious throughout. From a Barnett left hook that dropped him to the mat early to a scintillating ground battle over a Nogueira armbar, it was the kind of fight that showed fans and skeptics how scientific and multi-faceted this sport could really be.
March 2007
Just months after the collapse of the beloved Pride Fighting Championships, Nogueira made his UFC debut against a familiar face. He and Heath Herring had gone to war back in 2001, a toe-to-toe battle that remains one of the best heavyweight MMA fights of all time. A 2004 rematch was nearly as good.
Would the third time be the charm for Herring, a consistent bridesmaid who couldn’t quite vault to the top of the sport? Frankly, the UFC expected that answer to be no. It was a fight that promised to be exciting and fun, but it was also a contest Nogueira was supposed to win en route to a heavyweight title shot.
Instead, Herring creamed Nogueira with a high kick in the first round, sending him plummeting to the mat. If he had followed up immediately with aggressive ground and pound, it might have been Herring on his way to a title shot. But he made the decision to step back and make the referee stand the former Pride champion up.
It was a decision that will haunt Herring until his final days, but not one I’d call inexplicable. Nogueira was dangerous off his back, even when hurt. Clearly that was in the back of Herring’s mind, the idea of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory an ever present danger. Jumping on a prone Nogueira is dangerous, even when he’s knocked silly. Ultimately, however, it was a risk worth taking.
Inevitably, Nogueira recovered from the powerful blow. Inevitably, he does just enough to win a unanimous decision. And, inevitably, Herring descended back to gatekeeper status, his one opportunity to seize destiny in both hands squandered by a faint heart.
February 2008
Nogueira again looked vulnerable, this time against the lumbering Tim Sylvia in a fight for the UFC interim heavyweight title. Sylvia dropped Big Nog with a left-right combo in the first and spent the better part of five minutes bludgeoning him.
Sylvia, using his size to keep Nogueira at bay standing and his bulk to avoid persistent takedowns, was in firm control in the third round. But it only takes one mistake against a submission artist like Nogueira, and when the chance came, he pounced, sweeping Sylvia and finishing the fight with a brutal guillotine choke.
A snapshot post fight would have been incredibly deceiving. Nogueira, the victor, was covered in blood. The only sign Sylvia had been in a fight was the haunted look in his eyes.
December 2008
Despite early success in the Octagon, Nogueira was mostly a stranger to UFC fans who hadn’t had the chance to see him at his best. He was a respected veteran—but not a star. Until, that is, The Ultimate Fighter propelled him into the limelight.
Nogueira and the cocky Frank Mir were excellent adversaries on reality television. The show made Mir, already the bad guy, a comic book level villain complete with long monologues espousing his own greatness and ever present sneer. By contrast, Nogueira looked like Mother Teresa.
Their eventual fight was highly anticipated, but ultimately disappointing. Nogueira never looked quite right and was knocked out in the second round. Eventually an injury surfaced.
“I hurt my left knee very bad. I couldn’t get the right shape,” Nogueira told Fighter’s Only. “Everybody could see that I wasn’t a good fighter tonight. I didn’t fight well. I think I can fight much better than this.”
August 2009
A pitched battle with fellow legend Randy Couture was Nogueira’s last great fight. And, nearly four years and countless contests later, it’s a bout that remains the best fight I’ve ever seen live.
The two aging warriors were able to hold off father time just long enough to put on a clinic in front of Couture’s rabid hometown crowd. The 15 minutes were filled to the bursting point with superb standing exchanges, grappling, submissions and escapes. This was mixed martial arts at its very best.
December 2011
Nogueira finally got his rematch with Mir—but things didn’t go any better. He was submitted for the first time in his career, though referee Herb Dean was actually in the process of stopping the fight before the tap actually came. The valiant Nogueira didn’t concede the fight until his arm was broken by a vicious Mir Kimura lock.
“I stopped it because I saw the arm break,” Dean told Sherdog. “The tap came after. I don’t stop it when I believe it’s locked on or even if I believe the guy’s in jeopardy because I don’t know what that person can take. I don’t know what their limits are, but if I see an injury that is too dangerous for the fight to continue, that’s when I’m going to stop the fight. Or if I see the fighter tap.”
October 2012
Nogueira made a triumphant return, defying critics and refusing to retire after Mir’s brutal submission snapped his arm. Dave Herman, the victim dujour, made the mistake of suggesting he was unsubmittable. A second-round armbar cured him of that delusion quickly.
June 8, 2013
Nogueira is once again being thrown to the wolves, this time against Fedor smasher Fabricio Werdum. Nogueira actually beat Werdum in 2006, before his steep decline, but he barely resembles the fighter who ruled the Pride heavyweight ranks, the crown prince to Fedor‘s king.
“We fought in 2006 and Nogueira was more experienced then and I got beat up in that fight,” Werdum told ESPN. “I’m much stronger now.”
After a season of reality television, the Brazilian crowd should be hot for this matchup, even if Nogueira has seen better days. Can the old warhorse, now 37, make one more run at the title? Or is he just a road block in the path of fighters like Werdum? This is a bout that should answer plenty of questions about Nogueira’s future—and just might be the last fight of his legendary career.
March has been a busy month in MMA, with the UFC, Bellator and World Series of Fighting all hosting at least one event. Between wolf tickets, dazzling debuts and great finishes, March was not short of memorable moments.The UFC visited Japan with a lack…
March has been a busy month in MMA, with the UFC, Bellator and World Series of Fighting all hosting at least one event. Between wolf tickets, dazzling debuts and great finishes, March was not short of memorable moments.
The UFC visited Japan with a lackluster card, but the main attractions saved the entire event. However, it came back with its card in Canada and put on some interesting affairs.
As for Bellator, their eighth season continued to play out with weekly installments. Top contenders like Dave Jansen were sorted out, as he is next in line to challenge Michael Chandler for the lightweight strap.
Lastly, the up-and-coming World Series of Fighting promotion put on their second show headlined by former UFC champ Andrei Arlovski and Anthony Johnson. It was an interesting show scattered with UFC veterans and potential top prospects.
Here are the eight-best moments from the month of March.
Both Riki Fukuda and Alex Caceres were flagged after failing their drug tests for UFC on Fuel TV 8 earlier this month. The two fighters have released statements with two different rationales behind the failed tests.MMA Junkie has the information f…
Both Riki Fukuda and Alex Caceres were flagged after failing their drug tests for UFC on Fuel TV 8 earlier this month. The two fighters have released statements with two different rationales behind the failed tests.
MMA Junkie has the information from both fighters’ camps:
“Fukuda said over-the-counter cold medication prompted his failed test for banned stimulants, and Caceres said he takes ‘full responsibility’ for failing his test due to marijuana metabolites.”
Fukuda has since been cut from the UFC after a 2-3 run in the promotion. Fukuda lost a decision to Brad Tavares at the event. The Japanese fighter said that he had taken cold medicine a few weeks prior to the bout but forgot to disclose the use prior to being tested.
Fukuda tested positive for phenylpropanolamine, norpseudoephedrine and ephedrine.
Meanwhile, along with a six-month suspension and his win being overturned to a no-contest, Caceres must undergo drug rehabilitation classes and pass another drug test upon his return to MMA.
I’ve personally never been a fan of the “Bruce Leeroy” shtick, but I will give him props for how he’s handled the situation (via MMA Junkie):
I accept full responsibility for my actions and the consequences from those actions. I apologize to all that I have disappointed, including the UFC, my family, coaches, training partners and fans. I accept the sanctions from the UFC, and I look forward to completing the necessary steps to getting back in the octagon following the suspension and assuring that this never happens again.
While I’m unsure of the sincerity of Caceres‘ statement, it is refreshing to see a fighter take responsibility instead of passing the blame with the usual lines of “my trainer gave me this” or “I didn’t know what was in the supplement.”
(Alex asks that you respect his privacy at this time, and would like to state for the record that Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos were originally his idea. / Photo via MMAWeekly)
First up on the naughty list is Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres, who tested positive for marijuana metabolites after his split-decision win over Kyung Ho Kang during the UFC on FUEL 8 prelims. Caceres will be suspended six months, and must attend drug rehabilitation classes and pass a drug test before he’s allowed to return. Furthermore, his victory over Kang — which would have been his third-straight in the UFC — has been changed to a no-contest. Caceres joins Matt Riddle, Thiago Silva, Dave Herman, Nick Diaz, and Nick Diaz’s friends in the growing list of publicly-outed potheads.
Also caught in the latest drug-sweep was Japanese middleweight Riki Fukuda, who lost a decision to Brad Tavares on the night in question. According to MMAJunkie, Fukuda tested positive for the banned stimulants phenylpropanolamine (never heard of it), norpseudoephedrine (never heard of it), and ephedrine (love that stuff). Sadly, Fukuda isn’t getting off with a suspension — he’s already been released by the UFC. The loss to Tavares dropped Fukuda’s Octagon record to 2-3, with all fights going the distance.
Damn…steroids, weed, and uppers in the same day — or as we like to call it, “The Tijuana Triathlon.” Get your shit together, UFC fighters.
(Alex asks that you respect his privacy at this time, and would like to state for the record that Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos were originally his idea. / Photo via MMAWeekly)
First up on the naughty list is Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres, who tested positive for marijuana metabolites after his split-decision win over Kyung Ho Kang during the UFC on FUEL 8 prelims. Caceres will be suspended six months, and must attend drug rehabilitation classes and pass a drug test before he’s allowed to return. Furthermore, his victory over Kang — which would have been his third-straight in the UFC — has been changed to a no-contest. Caceres joins Matt Riddle, Thiago Silva, Dave Herman, Nick Diaz, and Nick Diaz’s friends in the growing list of publicly-outed potheads.
Also caught in the latest drug-sweep was Japanese middleweight Riki Fukuda, who lost a decision to Brad Tavares on the night in question. According to MMAJunkie, Fukuda tested positive for the banned stimulants phenylpropanolamine (never heard of it), norpseudoephedrine (never heard of it), and ephedrine (love that stuff). Sadly, Fukuda isn’t getting off with a suspension — he’s already been released by the UFC. The loss to Tavares dropped Fukuda’s Octagon record to 2-3, with all fights going the distance.
Damn…steroids, weed, and uppers in the same day — or as we like to call it, “The Tijuana Triathlon.” Get your shit together, UFC fighters.
Banned substances continue to plague the UFC, as bantamweight Alex Caceres and middleweight Riki Fukuda have reportedly failed their drug tests from UFC on Fuel 8.According to MMA Junkie, Fukuda has been released as a result of testing positive for sev…
Banned substances continue to plague the UFC, as bantamweight Alex Caceres and middleweight Riki Fukuda have reportedly failed their drug tests from UFC on Fuel 8.
According to MMA Junkie, Fukuda has been released as a result of testing positive for several “banned stimulants,” while Caceres will serve an extended suspension due to a positive test for marijuana metabolites:
Fukuda tested positive for banned stimulants (phenylpropanolamine, norpseudoephedrine and ephedrine), and Caceres was flagged for marijuana metabolites.
UFC on FUEL TV 8 took place March 3 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. With the lack of a regulating body in place, UFC officials oversaw the drug testing at FUEL TV-televised event.
Caceres had previously won a close bout with Kyung Ho Kang at UFC on Fuel 8, which marked his third-straight win at 135 pounds.
However, his positive drug test will see that win for “Bruce Leeroy” turned to a no-contest decision.
Fukuda isn’t nearly as lucky, though, as he previously posted news of his release from the UFC on his Twitter account, thanking the promotion and training partner Jon Fitch for his 2-3 stint in the promotion.
Through his five fights in the UFC, Fukuda had never put together a winning streak and lost his last fight to Brad Tavares via unanimous decision.
As MMA Junkie notes, this marks another string of positive drug tests for UFC fighters, as Caceres and Fukuda join Matt Riddle, Thiago Tavares, Rousimar Palhares, Thiago Silva, Stephan Bonnar, Jake Shields and Lavar Johnson on the list of prominent MMA athletes outed for banned substances.
Update: According to MMA Fighting, Riki Fukuda was apparently set to be cut from the UFC following his loss to Brad Tavares.
UFC director of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner tells MMA Fighting that Fukuda’s release was “more a coincidence” than anything else. He also commented on Alex Caceres’ penalty, noting that the young bantamweight will be required to attend rehabilitation classes with a final drug test to complete his suspension.
McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and tech writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld, PC World, 1UP, NVision, The Los Angeles Times, FightFans Radio, MMA Mania and Bleacher Report. Talk with him on Twitter.
At face value, Rory MacDonald seems like the world’s best-dressed serial killer. But maybe he’s just a man of glaring contradictions.