Rory MacDonald News

Tom Taylor - May 23, 2017

Last weekend, former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald made his anticipated debut in the Bellator cage. This debut couldn’t have gone better, as he dominated his dangerous foe Paul Daley to a second-round choke for the win. In advance of this fight, MacDonald made the surprising admission that in terms of sponsorship money, he would actually be making less as a Bellator fighter than he would have if he had continued fighting in the UFC, wear fighters are required to wear Reebok exclusively.

Chris Taylor - May 20, 2017

Rory MacDonald has his sights set on two MMA legends Former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald (19-4 MMA) made his highly anticipated Bellator MMA debut last night in London, England when he squared off with knockout artist Paul Daley in the evening’s featured bout.

bjpenndotcom - May 20, 2017

Friday afternoon in the United Kingdom, UFC veteran Rory MacDonald made his highly anticipated Bellator MMA debut against heavy handed knockout artist Paul Daley. MacDonald dominated the opening round, using his grappling to take Daley down and negate his knockout power. In the second round, MacDonald once again took Daley to the ground, this time however securing a rear-naked choke to finish the fight, making ‘The Red King’ the Bellator welterweight #1 contender. Following the fight, MacDonald spoke about the win, saying:

Chris Taylor - May 20, 2017

Pros react to Rory MacDonald’s submission victory over Paul Daley Former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald (19-4 MMA) made his highly anticipated Bellator MMA debut against Paul “Semtex” Daley last night in London, England.

Tom Taylor - May 17, 2017

Rory MacDonald plans to rule @BellatorMMA's welterweights, but what does he think of the top contenders? He fights Paul Daley on Friday! pic.twitter.com/PXC97eZPL2

Russell Ess - May 16, 2017

For many fighters that moved over to Bellator from the UFC, the sponsorship dollars were likely a big factor in their decisions to switch things up. Take Ryan Bader for example. Bader said he would be making three to four times as much in personal sponsorship money fighting under Bellator than he was getting with Reebok’s uniform sponsorship deal with the UFC. Bader was also near the top of the pay tier of the Reebok sponsorship program.

bjpenndotcom - May 3, 2017

Rory MacDonald was a staple of the UFC’s welterweight division for many years prior to his departure from the promotion last year, which saw him promptly sign a contract with Bellator MMA. While MacDonald’s Bellator MMA debut fight wasn’t immediately announced, the former UFC welterweight staple reveled that he was going to take his time before his Bellator MMA debut in order to let a broken nose heal fully. Now however, with just two weeks to go until MacDonald’s debut fight against Paul Daley, MacDonald is back training with his old coach prior to his jump to Tristar gym.

Chris Taylor - April 29, 2017

Rory MacDonald doesn’t believe it will be “a bad thing” if his fight with Paul Daley stays standing Former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald will make his Bellator MMA debut at next month’s Bellator 179 event London, England when he squares off with knockout artist Paul Daley in the evenings main event.

Tom Taylor - April 20, 2017

Having defended the welterweight title twice – albeit in two close fights with the same man – UFC welterweight titleholder Tyron Woodley is looking like he could emerge as a pretty dominant champion. We do, however, know that he can be beaten. Rory MacDonald was the most recent fighter to prove this. MacDonald beat Woodley in June of 2014, outworking him to a unanimous decision win. In the years since then, the two fighters have diverged on very different paths, with Woodley claiming UFC welterweight gold, and MacDonald departing from the UFC to set up shop under the Bellator MMA banner.

Russell Ess - April 19, 2017

Rory MacDonald is set to make his Bellator MMA debut at Bellator 179 in the main event on May 19. The former UFC title challenger will have his hands full as he takes on the knockout specialist Paul Daley at the SSE Arena in London. MacDonald spoke with BJPenn.com’s Chris Taylor on Monday’s episode of Rapid Fire about a few topics including his recent fight schedule.

Russell Ess - April 11, 2017

If you had to decide, which single bout would you vote on as the best fight in UFC history? Fans recently voted in a March Madness style voting bracket from ESPN where 16 fights were initially presented and the fans picked what they thought were the best fights in UFC history from their matchups.

Tom Taylor - April 4, 2017

https://youtu.be/WsPObJUQ_0g Former UFC title challenger Rory MacDonald, who is scheduled to make his Bellator debut against Paul Daley in London on May 19, is one of the best welterweights on earth. He’s also an advocate for a much more primal ruleset for the sport of mixed martial arts.

Russell Ess - February 9, 2017

On Thursday, Bellator MMA announced that former UFC title challenger Rory MacDonald is set to make his debut fighting for their promotion. MacDonald will face Bellator welterweight knockout artist Paul Daley on May 19 at Bellator 179 as the promotion makes its way back to London.

bjpenndotcom - February 9, 2017

We now have an official date for the highly anticipated Rory MacDonald Bellator debut! In 2016, news broke that Bellator MMA had signed former UFC welterweight contender Rory MacDonald to a contract. While MacDonald was certainly a massive addition to Bellator’s 170 pound roster, The Red King expressed his desire to take some time to allow injuries to heal, most notably his nose, which was re injured in his June loss to Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson.

Russell Ess - February 2, 2017

Dillon Danis has been making a lot of noise with being associated with current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. Danis was brought in to help prepare for McGregor’s UFC 202 rematch against Nate Diaz and also helped train and corner “The Notorious” in his historic lightweight title fight against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205.

bjpenndotcom - January 24, 2017

This past Saturday at Bellator 170, knockout artist Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley picked up another highlight reel knockout as he knocked Brennan Ward out with a vicious flying knee in the co-main event. The win returned Daley to the win column after dropping a unanimous decision to Douglas Lima at Bellator 158 back in July of 2016, which snapped a 5-fight win streak for ‘Semtex’. The flying knee of course left Ward with a horrific cut on the side of his face, an image of the injury has since gone viral as fight fans and social media users have all collectively gazed at the photo in awe.

Tom Taylor - October 3, 2016

Last month, former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald (18-4) made some serious waves by leaving the UFC and joining the Bellator MMA roster. And while the Canadian doesn’t plan to step into the Bellator cage until sometime in 2017, he’s making his plans for his time in the organization very clear. He wants big fights for big money – even if it means he has to step far outside his welterweight home to get them. In a recent appearance on Booker T’s Heated Conversations podcast, MacDonald discussed his desire for exciting fights in the Bellator cage – something he says he could no longer find in the UFC.

bjpenndotcom - September 22, 2016

Newly signed Bellator welterweight Rory MacDonald seems to be a glutton for punishment. After two brutal wars with ‘Ruthless’ Robbie Lawler, you would think that Rory would have some trepidation over another dogfight. But of course none of that matters to MacDonald, who took to Twitter on Wednesday to request a no holds barred fight in Bellator, one with no judges or weight classes or any regard for safety whatsoever.