• Xenforo Cloud has scheduled an upgrade to XenForo version 2.2.16. This will take place on or shortly after the following date and time: Jul 05, 2024 at 05:00 PM (PT) There shouldn't be any downtime, as it's just a maintenance release. More info here

What made prime Rory MacDonald so good?

Rory had elite striking and bjj with good overall grappling, and came out of GSP's gym as GSP 2.0. He didn't have any obvious weaknesses and he fought above where he could've should've for his age. He was also tough as absolute shit (everyones seen the Lawler fight but.. damn).

He fell off extremely hard when he went to the jesus juice/post nose destruction with Lawler and guess what.. it happens. But don't need to diminish the prime, he was an elite contender for the above reasons, as far as he's fallen now.
 
13Seconds said:
Unreal focus as well. Tyron said something interesting in his last interview.

Something like: "I remember back when i fought Rory and how fight week was. I was so busy shooting the embedded, talk to all the different sponsors and alot of interviews on top of that. Meanwhile Rory was just in his hotel room getting ready for the fight. He didn't let anyone from the outside to come close. That's how i am right now leading up to the Jake Paul fight."
Click to expand...

It's already too late for Tyron. Easy talk.
 
Lawler and Wonderboy ended his career.


Sad because he had tons of promise but they both took a decade off his career
 
He never was really that great. Very good but not great. He was GSP's protégé, and was hyped up as the next big thing. But, he never really lived up to the hype. I do think the wars with Lawler took alot out of him, and he has not been the same since.
 
Rory is not, and was not GSP's protégé.

It was a lazy easy narrative.

Rory was trained by David Lea, and continues too.
 
Koro_11 said:
Good enough to arguably beat Lawler in the first fight, not many people remember that one.
Click to expand...

True. I haven't seen that fight in a long time, but I remember he finished strong on top of Robbie. Robbie just had that extra something in the rematch and clipped the nose
 
rakeleaves said:
Yes it seems like revisionist hating, I agree.... but the fact is Rory's initial run only includes 1 top5 win... and I'm not even sure if Woodley was top5 at the time tbh. Saffeine, Ellenberger, and Penn are good wins, but they weren't elite WWs and those wins haven't aged well. Alot of the hype he got was because he trained with GSP and was so young that people thought his upside was bigger than it turned out to be.
Click to expand...
Well even his losses were impressive to some degree.
He was very competitive with Condit and got caught with an upkick in his second UFC fight.
Split Decision loss to Robbie and their title fight was incredible. Broke his nose in the first round and still went toe to toe with him in their rematch. He got hit square on the broken nose and that caused the finish in the 5th. Had he hung on he wins the title.
He goes to Bellator and wins the belt from Lima.

Its funny how on Sherdog if you aren't #1 in the world you aren't elite.
the 5th best QB in the NFL is still fucking elite. The 20th best goalie in the NHL is still elite. etc etc. On Sherdog the #3 ranked fighter is a nobody , rat, bum.
 
dittohead84 said:
Was yet to have his beak smashed by a rejuvenated Lawler. He was good tho
Click to expand...
Yep, he was tough and those two fights....IMO ended his career at the top...the damage he took was insane...well shit the damage both of them took. Those were two of the best WW fights of all time!
 
Th3Sav4ge said:
he was better than a jack of all trades. he was elite everywhere. if someone had better striking, they did not have better grappling, and vice versa.

he also stayed in his lane and stuck to his gameplans for the most part. he was never winging wheel kicks and sloppy over hands or brawling when he didnt have too. a calculated fighter


that was round 1 of Maia vs colby. watching old man maia put the paws on him was great.
fight-jim-carrey.gif
Click to expand...
maia landed one well strike and then got dominated the rest of the fight. colby left maia in a pool of his own blood
 
Thepaintbucket said:
He tossed Nate Diaz around like a sack of potatoes. Nate then decided 155 was better for him

Rory had good volume/pressure and combos from the outside. See Rory toying with Woodley against the cage
Click to expand...
Nate had respect for him too. Here's him meeting Matt Hughes and Lawler before that fight



Fucked around and found out. He was back to the lightweights in no time
 
Rory with that look in his eye o_O
uUGvJHM.jpg
 
dipstickjimmy said:
Well even his losses were impressive to some degree.
He was very competitive with Condit and got caught with an upkick in his second UFC fight.
Split Decision loss to Robbie and their title fight was incredible. Broke his nose in the first round and still went toe to toe with him in their rematch. He got hit square on the broken nose and that caused the finish in the 5th. Had he hung on he wins the title.
He goes to Bellator and wins the belt from Lima.

Its funny how on Sherdog if you aren't #1 in the world you aren't elite.
the 5th best QB in the NFL is still fucking elite. The 20th best goalie in the NHL is still elite. etc etc. On Sherdog the #3 ranked fighter is a nobody , rat, bum.
Click to expand...

At one point, he w as elite. When did I say he wasn't? My argument is that if you actually look at his prime run compared to what people expected he would become and what the hype behind him was at the time, he fell short. He was arguably "great"... was his prime "so great"? That point is debatable. Again you are bringing up Lima, but the OP is about prime Rory. Maybe you should focus on your reading comprehension skills before throwing out the F-bomb in some self-righteous tirade.
 
I actually think he was much more skilled than Lawler and may have touched gold if Robbie wasn't such an absolute madman.

He absolutely dismantled Woodley and embarrassed BJ. He put a beating on Condit with an incredible disparity in their experience levels. I think he would have thrashed Hendricks if Johny fought him just before or after the GSP fight.

I think prime Rory could hang in there with Usman, and probably beat dudes like Colby and Edwards tbh
 
rakeleaves said:
Outside of a pre prime Woodley his best wins were never that great. He beat past prime and undersized Penn, borderline top10 Saffedeine, and Jake Ellenberger who turned out the be a flash in the pan. Never beat a solid top 5 fighter outside of maybe Woodley at the time, but I don't remember where he was ranked.
Click to expand...
His FOTN performance against Maia was probably his 2nd best win.

Maia was ranked #6 at the time and then went on to win 7 straight fights afterwords (5 of which where ranked opponents)
 
Noel Wards said:
I'm guessing from what people say about him.

Pretty good wrestling. Not GSP level. But one of the best in the division?

Good BJJ.

Quite good striking. In so far his length, height, and athleticism carried him. And with a real solid jab?

Tell me Sherdoggers. I just started following the sport 6 months ago.
Click to expand...

Put it all toguether.
He didn't go out of the box too much.
 
TheMessiah said:
He was extremely well rounded despite his age. His fight IQ back then was good and he was extremely focused
Click to expand...
Spot on. At age 25 he had 4 top 10 wins, 2 additional wins with good name value (Diaz/Penn), and 2 close fights with Lawler and Condit.

Back half of his career wasn't that great but it was very impressive what he did despite his age early in his career.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,240,574
Messages
55,703,992
Members
174,905
Latest member
RuralAttacker25

Share this page

Back
Top