Rory MacDonald – What Went Wrong?

[CrimsonFan]

There's a couple things that I think haven't really been mentioned.

Rory started fighting when he was a teenager, so by the time he was 30 he had been doing this for nearly 15 years. That's a long time for constantly being in training camps?
, fighting, cutting weight, a lot of injuries surely. Not everyone is fortunate to be able to continually stay relevant into their 30s. Look at like nfl running backs.. they're always completely shot by the time they turn 30 and they have to retire because they aren't good enough to be paid.

I also think Rory had a lot of expectations because of how much potential he had when he was young.. and he was good everywhere, but not truly elite anywhere.

His wrestling, striking, and BJJ were all very good. But then he ran into guys who were great in areas he was only very good and he got beat up. Also, i think people sort of discredit these Bellator guys. Just because they aren't in the ufc people look at a loss in Bellator and assume Rory "fell off a cliff", when the reality is he fought a good fighter and lost. It happens.

Luckily Rory seemed to realize he was indeed losing steam and called it a career. Alot of guys don't do that

 

[Boomb]

He was supposed to be the next GSP, but unfortunatelly for him, Lawler had other plans..

 

[The XL]

Lawler pretty much aged him 10 years with the beating he gave him

 

[SalvadorAllende]

He was good at everything but never the best at anything to be dominant.

 

[Kwic]

Too busy banging prostitutes while flexing to stay at the necessary level to be still on top.

 

[Cowboy Kurt Angle]

lost motivation same with Condit on the cusp of winning the gold only to lose after being moments away from being crowned

 

[knock_you_out]

Nothing went wrong. Not everyone can become the champion.

 

[Legendary]

He started fighting really young and by the time he was 30 he already had nearly 15 years of fighting on his resume.

 

[Thatlookinhiseyes]

He was super religious before he made it to the ufc, used to read a Bible backstage before his early fights

Where did you hear that? I come from the same town and same age as him. Different schools. I used to train at his OH gym toshido aswell and never heard that. Not saying your wrong, just suprising news to me

 

[Thatlookinhiseyes]

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.

To be fair against fitch. Fitch was on the sauce at that point. He says he wasn’t and just used it for the palhares fight, but that doesn’t hold much weight in my eyes. And the ufc didn’t protect him. They gave him Carlos condit as his second fight when he was 20. Came back and beat Nate Diaz after that, who was an established fighter. Che mills was the only lobbed fight really. And even then they were at similar places in their careers. Mike Pyle was an established vet. Bj Penn (at that time was coming off a title eliminator loss vs nick diaz) Ellenberger who was a knocking ppl out. The most you can say is the styles of these fighters were better for Rory, but they all weren’t easy fights.

 

[Pierced7681]

Where did you hear that? I come from the same town and same age as him. Different schools. I used to train at his OH gym toshido aswell and never heard that. Not saying your wrong, just suprising news to me

Just heard it from other local fighters who were on the same card. Is it true he got the nickname the waterboy cause he was a spazz in training and would scream like Adam Sandler? lol

 

[560ti]

To be fair against fitch. Fitch was on the sauce at that point. He says he wasn’t and just used it for the palhares fight, but that doesn’t hold much weight in my eyes. And the ufc didn’t protect him. They gave him Carlos condit as his second fight when he was 20. Came back and beat Nate Diaz after that, who was an established fighter. Che mills was the only lobbed fight really. And even then they were at similar places in their careers. Mike Pyle was an established vet. Bj Penn (at that time was coming off a title eliminator loss vs nick diaz) Ellenberger who was a knocking ppl out. The most you can say is the styles of these fighters were better for Rory, but they all weren’t easy fights.

I'm glad I'm not the only person who found that post ridiculous.

"They protected him" ? His 2nd UFC fight was against fucking Carlos Condit, you have to be kidding me?

"That didn't stop him from getting a title shot for beating Tarec". Once again you have to be kidding me? His previous 2 fights were LITERALLY wins over top 5 guys but yeah, they gifted him a shot mainly for beating Tarec.....

Guy would make a good lawyer, trying the absolute hardest to make the worst spins/outcomes

 

[NoStoneUnturned]

Anybody who thinks Rory wasn't an absolute monster is nuts. He was so young when he entered the fight business, its crazy what he accomplished, even if he wasn't ever champ.

Rory age 21 to age 25: Condit, Nate Diaz, Pyle, Penn, Ellenberger, Lawler, Maia, Woodley, and Saffeidine.

Khamzat at age 24 and 25: Sagen, Magnor, Kisic, Wheeler, Aliskerov, and Hlongwa. Other than Aliskerov, who the f#ck are they?

 

[Kaiokenrye24]

I still wonder if Robbie Lawler was juiced up in that fight

 

[HP_Nut]

Damage and he started MMA very early.

1. Damage - that nose that Robbie broke never got back to 100% and was constantly breaking after that. I remember WB broke it again in Rory's next fight immediately after Robbie. Mousasi also broke it again not to many fights later. You could tell by how Rory reacted to being punched in the face changed after the Robbie fight. That's why in bellator he took such a wrestling heavy approach. I'm willing to guess that he was also having breathing issues which affected his gas tank later in his career.

2. By the time Rory was 30 years old he was he was like 86 in MMA years and had 305,000 miles on his odometer. There's a trend that fighters get about 10 years into their MMA careers and start looking visibly worse. That's why someone like DC who started MMA late could compete at a high level well into his late 30s and why someone like Rory looked shot 32. We've seen plenty of guys retire by 30 but those guys started MMA in their teens. And we've seen people start MMA in their late 20s and fight at high level into their late 30s. It's because of the miles MMA put on the body. It's not about how old someone is. It's about how long they've been doing MMA.

This is a great post. Especially love part 2, which a lot of people seem unaware of. Fight mileage, & 10 yrs is a real thing which a lot of people overlook or they only strictly talk about age

 

[HP_Nut]

Neither Rory, Condit or Robbie were ever the same again after their fights

Hendricks was never the same after his 2 fights vs Lawler too

 

[Kindjal]

Damn I didn't know there was at least a hint of Robbie Lawler taking TRT , if true that changes my thoughts on Robbie being as close to a perfect warrior representation for the UFC as one can get . Robbie wasn't undefeated by any means but his "compete" and enough skill to always make him dangerous throughout his career . Taking TRT definitely can give a fighter some improvement and has been illegal in the UFC since Feb 27 , 2014

 

[Here's Johnny!]

I think he was just good but not great. Was not able to beat the elite fighters.

Dude clowned on Tyron Woodley who is a top 4 ww champ all time and he "was not able to beat elite fighters".. no he was a kid that got broken in one fight.... up to that point he could fight with anyone after he was scared to get hit... horses get broken lions get broken.... to train a dog you have to dominate them... humans are no different.... he got broken so bad in one fight he was scared to get broken again

 

[Local Plata]

Burnout, probably. Dude was training non stop since his early teens iirc. It's not like he had insane physical gifts or anything either. He honed his skills, got as high as that would take him, then stalled, then declined. Starting earlier doesn't mean your longevity will be longer necessarily.

 

[Hitdepruns]

That fight with Lawler was one of the best in UFC history in my opinion. I hope he is enjoying retirement.