Rory MacDonald – What Went Wrong?

Rory was a good, not great fighter, diminished by his war with Lawler. Damage will change a man, and it did to him as well.

Lawler literally removed his ability to absorb damage, altering his career. He fought not only safer, but to simply avoid getting hit. After Lawler turned his nose to mush, Rory's game plan and mettle would evaporate the second he got hit in it. I've seen him start to win a fight and fall apart the moment he ate a straight shot to it.
 
There were two things that went wrong. According to ufc/sherdog shills. The UFC and Robbie Lawler in that order. First, the UFC places zero value in Fighters until they make the UFC Millions. Second, Rory got beat by Lawler and the Wonder Boy fight no one can forget.

Now did it go badly in his career after that? I question that sentiment. He went to Bellator and got paid. He became Bellator champ and had more Epic fights.

He had a great career. It wasn't aĺl in the UFC and in typical Sherdog fashion if you have a loss, you are never that great. In Rory's case, Shèrdog should give this guy More Love.
 
1) Expectations on him were too high from the beginning: Rory started out with a very impressive performance against an opponent who (in hindsight) was tailor made for him to look good against. This set huge expectations for him and because he was young and Canadian, people expected him to become the next GSP which was really unfair IMO

2) Rory is really not that athletic of a person. He trained very hard and obviously was willing to take a lot of damage to try and win but he looks more like a swimmer than a professional fighter. His wrestling was average (defensively and offensively), his offensive submissions were lacking, and he didn't have very much power. He was really just a very run of the mill fighter with a ton of hype competing in a very stacked era of the division. It's actually a bit surprising to me that he did as well as he did (Woodley turtling up against him was baffling)... but when you look closer...

3) He was tremendously protected by matchmaking for a lot of his career: This is going back to the days when the UFC actually knew how to build stars and tune up fights still existed. Rory Macdonald, golden child future WW champ, gets a co-main event slot against... Che Mills?? Who else was on the card, Chuck vs Vernon Tiger White??

Rory was treated like Bisping was in his early days getting very easy fights against name opponents to build up his stardom while he developed. BJ Penn got absolutely massacred by Diaz and Jon Fitch (and was 1-2 before that) and Rory gets matched up with him?? Btw Penn never won a fight again after this lol.

Does anyone actually think the UFC expected Robbie Lawler to beat Rory in the 1st fight?? Sure Robbie got an upset win over a fading Koscheck but he was still viewed as a washed up journeyman at the time and he was tailor made for Rory to beat. However, in what would become the new norm for him, Rory underperformed and dropped a decision.

That didn't stop Rory from getting a title shot for beating Tarec freakin Saffiedine... but again, Rory was just not up to the task and never really sustained success over top fighters with any regularity.

I don't dislike Rory and he earned my respect in the Robbie fight but I do objectively think that he was a very overrated fighter who wouldn't have had nearly the success/hype he had if the UFC wasn't carefully selecting his opponents early on in his career. I don't think he would have gotten released or anything but a title contender seemed like the absolute best case scenario.

Look at how bad Rory got beaten by Jon Fitch who was 40 at the time... what do you think would have happened if they fought in Fitch's prime? Rory got hit so many times on the ground that he thought he heard God speaking to him in the crowd and he said he wanted to retire and "not hurt people anymore"... I genuinely find it disgusting that Rory was even sanctioned to fight ever again after this obvious moment of CTE. It's scary to think of what he will look like if he reaches 50.

With that being said, I do think Rory in his prime could have become a champion in modern day because WW has been insanely inflated for the last 5 years with virtually no one in the top 10 deserving their ranking. He was a decent fighter... just not amongst the best of all time... but neither are any of these modern guys.
 
Rory had a great career, he started early .... probably too early and his style was not conducive for longevity , his fight IQ could be said to be mediocre as he would hang in the pocket too long without moving and it cost him against elite strikers . He peaked at age 24-25 . Overall though an above average fighter.
 
He became a can, like Pettis, that's all.
 
it went wrong from the get go when he decided on that mcdojo as his training spot
 
From what I can recall he was a "new breed fighter" and started MMA in his adolescence

I don't think this is a fool proof path to success. I think he mightve used up his fighting years or wasn't meant to be ufc champion material. The 2nd Lawler fight he was primed and almost won the dawn fight too. Instead it ended with a shattered nose and defeat. His career still had a second life beyond ufc

But something kept him from ufc gold and his career had a natural lifespan. It's worth noting iirc Lawler had suspicious TRT levels. But whatever at the end of the day Lawler was a better fighter and proved it twice. But Lawler ultimately blocked his chance at being champ
 
I’d say he lived up to his potential by making it to a UFC title fight. Competition it tough at the top. Not everyone can win. Just being there is an accomplishment.
 
europe1 said:
But to elaborate some more.
After the second Lawler bout a lot of Rory's fights revolved around pretty lame gameplanning.
For example, vs Wonderboy, he actually tried to get past Thompson's range and footwork via Imanari rolls. A really harebrained strategy that predictably failed. Leaving him plodding after Wonderboy and getting easily outstruck. That kinda shows were his (and Tristars) head were at at the time. Just no good approach to what he wanted to do.
Most of his Bellator bouts revolved around really relying on his wrestling to win. When he couldn't, he lost, bigly.
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Problem was I spose he'd always depended quite a bit on his chin and after the second Lawler fight he understandly didnt want to or couldn't take that kind of punishment anymore.
 
Blocked with his head to much. Not everyone is George Chuvalo and can keep going with that style of fighting.
 
BowserJr said:
This is such a spot on analysis that many Sherdoggers just can't comprehend for some reason. Good job sir!

Robbie really is an anomaly in this regard too
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Robbie stopped sparring at 30. At least hard sparring. He said he already knew how to fight and sparring would just add unnecessary wear and tear to him.
 
Cumulative damage slowed him down and then later finding religion domesticated him. Not the same body and not the same person/mindset anymore.
 
The wars.

Many people forgotten and the casuals havent even seen it, but Lawler vs MacDonald 1 was actually a very good fight too.

MacDonald been through many tough fights not only in the UFC but while sparring.

As far as I know, the guy is a devouted Christian and hes in a great place now.

Kinda make me feel old because Im 37 now and Ive been looked up to him for at least 10 years (I absolutely loved his face off with Penn).

That guy was supposed to be the next big thing. And I truly believed it. Rory was special on his way up. But I guess we wasnt THAT guy.

Remarkable career nonetheless and gave us amazing memories.
 
laleggenda27 said:
There's no "what if" with Rory. He had a full career, and we saw it play out.

Suggesting that Rory is a "failure" or labeling him as "what could have been" is absurd. The guy had an amazing career, beat a ton of great fighters (including champions), fought for a UFC title, and held (and defended) the Bellator title.

Rory was a great prospect who delivered. The fact that he didn't win the UFC title doesn't change that. He was massively successful.
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Took the words out of my mouth. 100%
 
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