VANCOUVER — Rory MacDonald isn’t coming to Vancouver to exorcise the ghosts of his first UFC appearance in his home province.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Watch UFC 172 prelims Saturday on Sportsnet 360 starting at 8 p.m. EST / 5 p.m. PST
While his last-second loss to Carlos Condit at UFC 115 is just one of two setbacks he’s suffered in his career and undoubtedly stung in the moment, the 24-year-old Canadian has moved on from the experience, all the while keeping his sights set on his ultimate goal: becoming the UFC welterweight champion.
Returning to Vancouver affords him the opportunity to get one step closer to making that dream a reality, as MacDonald will square off with fellow top contender Tyron Woodley in the co-main event of UFC 174 on June 14 at Rogers Arena.
It’s a pairing of the No. 2 and No. 4 fighters in the division and though who is next in line is always written in pencil — never pen — the expectation is that the winner of this match-up will go on to face champion Johny Hendricks for the title later this year.
And MacDonald is excited for the opportunity.
“I don’t think I need any extra motivation coming off a loss from this arena,” MacDonald said, speaking with Sportsnet following Tuesday’s UFC 174 press event in Vancouver. “I expected that me and Tyron would get matched up here, so I’m very excited. I was very happy that we got put together.”
They say in the fight game that you learn more from your losses than your wins, and that’s very much the case with MacDonald. Just as his UFC 115 loss to Condit taught MacDonald about channeling his emotions, the defeat he suffered at the hands of Robbie Lawler at UFC 167 has proven to be the most pivotal contest of his career.
Carrying a five-fight winning streak into the bout, MacDonald seemed hesitant from the outset, allowing the 10-year veteran to dictate the tempo of their violent dance, and it cost him.
Lawler stung MacDonald on several occasions with his patented heavy striking, keeping the Montreal-based contender off balance throughout. Though MacDonald had his moments over the course of the 15-minute affair, Lawler was clearly the better man, with the victory propelling him into his UFC 171 showdown with Hendricks for the vacant welterweight title.
As for MacDonald, it forced him to examine what went wrong before and during the fight, and while coming up short inside the cage is never a pleasant experience, the lessons he learned from his fight with Lawler outweigh the disappoint of suffering his second career loss.
“Big thing was the importance of being mentally in the fight,” MacDonald offered candidly. “That fight, I figured I would go in there and do my thing and I would get through it. I was not there to fight—I wasn’t there that night and I wasn’t there for the training camp. I had some injuries that I don’t want to discuss because I don’t want to be that guy, but the biggest thing I learned in that fight is to be strong mentally and be ready to fight.
“I think it’s mental,” he continued when asked how to avoid a similar situation in the future. “I think it all is what you want to believe, where you want to take yourself that night. It’s all about how you feel that day. It’s super-important to get into the right headspace that works for you. I think I found that against Demian and it’s going to be even better in this fight.”
While his first fight following the setback against Lawler didn’t start out as expected, it’s not how you start, but how you finish that matters.
After surviving a scary first round with Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Demian Maia stuck on his back, searching for a finish, MacDonald emerged from his corner with a greater sense of urgency and savvy tactical adjustments to start the second.
Working behind a steady diet of jabs and follow-up rights, he battered Maia over the final 10 minutes, denying his attempts to bring the fight to the floor and showing the dynamic offence that had been in hibernation since he battered UFC legend B.J. Penn for three rounds on FOX in Seattle three fights earlier.
“Honestly, I felt great,” laughed MacDonald of the first round with Maia. “A lot of people were coming up to me, saying they were so nervous after that first round, but I really wasn’t—even underneath a top level jiu-jitsu guy, I know what I can do as a fighter, as a jiu-jitsu guy myself. I was very confident.
“Even in the worst position possible, I was very relaxed. I was very comfortable. I was totally fine with it, not expending too much energy, staying technical, and I worked back to my feet. I finished the round as strong as I could and I knew the look in his eye when I got back to my feet that I was going to win that fight.”
That’s precisely what he did, putting himself in a position to face-off with Woodley in a bout where the winner will likely become the next No. 1 contender in the wide open welterweight division.
While MacDonald’s sights have always remained acutely focused on fighting for the title—and he actively lobbied for the opportunity to meet Hendricks on this event—the Quesnel-born, Kelowna-raised fighter had a feeling he and Woodley would cross paths in the cage and he’s excited about the opportunity to square off with “The Chosen One” on June 14.
“I didn’t expect to get that title shot,” he admitted. “I kind of figured it would play out the way it did, so there was no disappointment on my part. I think this is a great fight for the fans and for myself, I’ve very confident that this will be my most dominant and impressive victory to date.”
If that’s the way it play out, the frustrations of a missed opportunity from his first appearance at Rogers Arena will be replaced by fond memories of putting himself in a position to challenge for championship gold on his home turf.
