Rory MacDonald – What Went Wrong?

When he retired it seemed like he fell off the face of the earth but he recently made a few instructional videos that I saw. I wonder if he’s trying to get involved in some sort of coaching role.
 
Nothing went wrong.
He went balls to the wall and ran it til the wheels came off.

Had some great fights and HUGE wins, came up short in a couple fights against elite opponents.

Got the belt in Bellator.

Came about as close as you can to winning the UFC title but it was Robbies night and Robbie was just a little bit more durable to take the immense punishment they dished out on eachother, absolutely no shame that is a first ballot hall of fame fight.
 
Just ran into the wrong guy at the wrong time (Lawler).

Probably would have had Woodley's title reign if not for that.
 
The lawler war took parts of him that he'll never get back. Literally took time off his life. Very similar to what Gaethje did to Tony.
 
There will be some psychobabble in here, but I always got the impression that Rory was 110% into MMA from a very young age as he started training at 14 and had an MMA fight at 16. He never developed any other aspect of his life (education, other hobbies, a regular job etc) so by the time he was in the UFC was a but emotionally stunted. Kind of like a child star. MMA was literally his entire identity.

When he got his ass whopped by Lawler I think the impact was more devastating than it might have been, because he had nothing else to fall back on or to find his identity in. So the fact that he realized he could lose, that MMA was not all that, left him extremely disillusioned and lost. If he was 100% MMA and MMA wasn't always a positive, could actually harm him badly, what's left of him?

I think this is why he amped up his religion and probably attached less value to MMA going forward. And was never quite the same.

You saw the same thing, albeit more dramatic, with Rhonda when she lost to Holm. She obviously had 100% of her self worth tied to judo/MMA and it broke her when she lost badly.

Compare that to people like DDP, DJ, GSP, Cruz, who I think have genuine self-confidence, varied interests, and a more realistic view of what the fight game is/isn't.

Scott Scheffler the world's #1 golfer often says that golf isn't that important to him (family, religion etc). If he loses he is still the exact same guy. If all he saw himself as was a golfer and he has a bad stretch, it'd be devastating because there's nothing else left.

I think compartmentalizing your life like that is healthy and Rory was not like that.

My 0.2.
 
EricSpider said:
He should have stayed at the UFC after the Wonderboy fight. He was a terrible match-up for Woodley and could have become champ.
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Honestly after the rematch with Robbie I think Woodley would beat him. Rory no longer could take a punch the same and Woodley had power in both hands. 1 solid punch from Woodley would've had Rory weary to engage and made Rory passive. The way to beat Woodley was constantly pressure him and not let him get comfortable stalking his opponents.
The Rory that beat Woodley was not the same Rory after the Robbie fight. He got Lesnar level of not being able to take a punch.
 
Great fighter and easy to sit down and take in all of his bouts. He had a great run. He's what many want in a fighter. He was in some wars and those wars add up to take a toll even if you don't realize it. UFC realized they had gotten practically all they could out of him before he left. After that it was essentially a trail to the end for him. I wouldn't say anything went wrong. He maxed out going after it.
 
I wanted Rory to be champ. Always believed he could back then. Lawler really messed him up
 
marvinparsons said:
There will be some psychobabble in here, but I always got the impression that Rory was 110% into MMA from a very young age as he started training at 14 and had an MMA fight at 16. He never developed any other aspect of his life (education, other hobbies, a regular job etc) so by the time he was in the UFC was a but emotionally stunted. Kind of like a child star. MMA was literally his entire identity.

When he got his ass whopped by Lawler I think the impact was more devastating than it might have been, because he had nothing else to fall back on or to find his identity in. So the fact that he realized he could lose, that MMA was not all that, left him extremely disillusioned and lost. If he was 100% MMA and MMA wasn't always a positive, could actually harm him badly, what's left of him?

I think this is why he amped up his religion and probably attached less value to MMA going forward. And was never quite the same.

You saw the same thing, albeit more dramatic, with Rhonda when she lost to Holm. She obviously had 100% of her self worth tied to judo/MMA and it broke her when she lost badly.

Compare that to people like DDP, DJ, GSP, Cruz, who I think have genuine self-confidence, varied interests, and a more realistic view of what the fight game is/isn't.

Scott Scheffler the world's #1 golfer often says that golf isn't that important to him (family, religion etc). If he loses he is still the exact same guy. If all he saw himself as was a golfer and he has a bad stretch, it'd be devastating because there's nothing else left.

I think compartmentalizing your life like that is healthy and Rory was not like that.

My 0.2.
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I agree with you for the most part but his first bad loss wasn't in the rematch with Robbie. If was Condit early on in his UFC career. He thoroughly dominated Condit for 2 and a half rounds just to get smashed and stopped with literally under 10 seconds left in the fight.

That had to be a psychological kick in the balls and Rory overcame it at a relatively young age.

What I think happened was when he lost to Robbie the second time not only did it do irreparable harm to his body but he realized he'd never be a UFC champ. His dream that he had since he was 16 and was basically crowned GSP's successor and the prototype for the new generations of fighters was over. That must've been a hard pill to swallow. I agree with you that after that, even though he fighting in bellator, he started unattaching himself from MMA and started crafting a new identity that wasn't centered around being the "Red King."
 
An amazing fighter that couldn't put it together when it counted.
We've seen it a lot.
Guys like Sandhagen, Poirier, Benavidez, Cerrone, Gus, Moraes, Overeem, Blaydes, and the list goes on and on. Super competitors that can't win the big ones.
 
The Robbie Lawler rematch took so much of Rory's soul. Anybody that takes that much damage will never be the same.
 
The man called Robbie.
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Honestly he ran into Robbie Lawler and both fighters lives changed forever.
 
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