By Canadian Press

Canada’s Rory MacDonald looks to become champion in two Bellator weight classes

Sep 27, 2018 | 9:45 AM

Canadian MMA star Rory (The Red King) MacDonald has taken his lumps in title fights, with broken bones and dashed dreams.

Against (Ruthless) Robbie Lawler three years ago in a bloody bout at UFC 189, the fight ended one minute into the fifth round with MacDonald unable to absorb any more blows to his fractured face.

By the time it was over, it looked like someone had taken a box-cutter to Lawler’s lip and MacDonald had survived a car crash.

“I never actually got rocked in my brain. It was more just like my facial structure breaking,” MacDonald said with a chuckle on the Fight Network’s 2016 “Retrospective” show.

“He was hitting me and it was breaking my bones,” he added.

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MacDonald’s nose, no stranger to breakage, bore the brunt of the abuse. 

There was more pain for MacDonald last January, although this time it came with a shiny prize. The 29-year-old from Kelowna, B.C., who fights out of Montreal, dethroned Bellator welterweight champion Douglas (the Phenom) Lima in a bruising five-round encounter at Bellator 192.

After the judges scored it 48-47, 49-45 and 49-46 for MacDonald, the Canadian and his new championship belt left on a stretcher thanks to Lima’s punishing leg kicks.

The hematoma on MacDonald’s lower left leg was the size of a soccer shin pad.

“I think I have a person growing inside me down there by the looks of it. I can’t really walk on it,” he said in his post-fight interview in the cage. “But whatever. I got through it.”

His leg would need six to eight weeks to recover.

On Saturday, MacDonald (20-4-0) returns to action against Gegard (The Dreamcatcher) Mousasi (44-6-2) in a main-event matchup of champions at Bellator 206 in San Jose.

The only title up for grabs will be Mousasi’s middleweight crown at 185 pounds. The Dutch fighter can’t make the 170-pound welterweight limit, so has no need for MacDonald’s title.

Should MacDonald win a second belt, Bellator boss Scott Coker says they will determine after the bout how to proceed with two titles. MacDonald would like to defend both if possible.

While Bellator may be seen as the No. 2 MMA promotion behind the UFC, Saturday’s title fight has real allure given the fighters’ credentials.

The 33-year-old Mousasi, a stylish striker, went 9-3-0 in the UFC with wins over former champions Vitor Belfort and Dan Henderson and has held titles in Dream, Cage Warriors and Strikeforce.

“He’s a complete mixed martial artist. There’s not too many of those guys competing at the top level,” said MacDonald. “He’s got the skills.” 

MacDonald, a well-rounded fighter with an iron will, was 9-4-0 in the UFC and is the last fighter to beat current UFC welterweight champion Tyron (The Chosen One) Woodley.

“He comes to fight. He’s mentally strong. Technically everywhere he’s good,” Mousasi said of MacDonald.

MacDonald is looking forward to matching his skills against Mousasi.

“I think he’ll have more power and strength in the early going. But I think that my endurance will be better than his and I’ll have better speed,” said MacDonald.

While MacDonald is known for pushing himself to the very limit in his fights, he acknowledges that is not the preferred way to go.

“I like it when my fights goes like when I fought Paul Daley,” he said in an interview, referencing a 2017 Bellator win that ended in a submission win 1:45 into the second round. “I’m a competitive guy. So when push comes to shove when I’m in the cage, I always push to my limits to get the victory because that’s who I am.”

“I’m prepared for the worst but hoping for the best,” he said of how Saturday’s bout might go in terms of physical toll.

Given he normally walks around at 195 pounds, MacDonald has enjoyed not having to radically restrict his diet during training camp.

“It’s just one less thing, really,” he said. “There’s a lot of organization that goes into food prep and things like that during the whole camp and especially the week of the fight. It’s just really nice not to have to organize all of that.” 

Mousasi thinks he may be 10 pounds heavier fight night but says “that’s not going to decide who’s going to win.”

“I feel like I’m the better fighter and that’s going to make the difference.”

MacDonald’s welterweight championship is already under threat from another quarter. Bellator is staging a Welterweight World Grand Prix with eight 170-pounders including MacDonald.

The tournament starts Saturday on the same card with Lima (29-7-0) facing Andrey (Spartan) Koreshkov (21-2-0). The Russian won the title off Lima in 2015 only to lose it back to him the next year.

MacDonald will have to put his 170-pound title on the line each time he fights in the tournament, starting with veteran Jon Fitch (31-7-1 with one no-contest) in a bout whose timing has yet to be announced.

“I’m excited to fight him too,” said MacDonald. “I’m happy that I know who I’m fighting next. It’s cool. I’m very confident about fighting him so I think it’s great. I’m looking forward to it. But I’m definitely not looking past Gegard. In my opinion, he’s the harder fight for me so my focus is on that.”

MacDonald and Mousasi have been respectful to each other in the buildup to the fight.

“I like him a lot … Canadians are always nice,” Mousasi told one interviewer.

Said MacDonald: “He’s an interesting individual. I find him very funny. His interviews always crack me up.”

Other welterweights competing in the Grand Prix are Paul (Semtex) Daley, Michael (Venom) Page, (EZ) Ed Ruth and Neiman Gracie. Lorenz (The Monsoon) Larkin and Yaroslav (Dynamo) Amosov are alternates.

MacDonald was just 20 when he made his UFC debut in January 2010, one of a new breed of fighters who grew up studying a wide array of martial arts rather than transitioning over from wrestling or judo.

Born in Quesnel, MacDonald started training at 14 and had his first pro fight at 16, with his parents having to give their approval to do so. Even then, only a few athletic commissions would sanction the youngster.

He was 18 when he won the King of the Cage Canadian lightweight title in 2007 — in his sixth fight —and claimed the King of the Cage world 155-pound title in his next outing the next year.

Also Saturday, former Pride title-holder Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer) Silva takes on former UFC light-heavyweight champion Quinton (Rampage) Jackson at heavyweight.

The 42-year-old Silva (35-13-1) and the 40-year-old Jackson (37-13-0) have met three times already, with Silva winning in Pride in 2003 and 2004 and Jackson victorious in the UFC in 2008.

Jackson has lost five of his last 10 fights including the last two. Silva has lost three of his last five outings and eight of the last 12.

Saturday’s card is being shown on DAZN in Canada.

Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version had the incorrect UFC number for their most recent fight.

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