MacDonald: Fighting at 16 was right for me, I’ve got 10 more years
Rory MacDonald: “It’s just who I was inside. I need that outlet. So I think it was a healthy thing for me.”
Bellator MMA star Rory MacDonald made his pro MMA debut at age 16, at lightweight. Still a teenager, he was 7-0 when he made the move up to welterweight. Now 28, he has established himself as one of the best 170-pound fighters in the world.
In 2015 he fought Robbie Lawler for the UFC welterweight championship in the fight of the year, and one of the toughest fights in the sport’s history. He waited a year to recover but it wasn’t enough, and didn’t quite look like himself in a loss to Stephen Thompson. He took another year off, signed with Bellator, and looked spectacular vs. Paul Daley.
On January 20 he will challenge Douglas Lima for the Bellator welterweight belt, and he has superplans beyond his division. He’s 28 now, and during a recent appearance on Sherdog Radio Network’s Beatdown show, he said the early start to his career worked for him, and he feels he has a decade more in the cage.
I think it’s case to case and person to person,’ said MacDonald, as transcribed by Tristen Critchfield for Sherdog. “I saw myself as a hardcore person at that age…But I guess I took myself very seriously, and I was mature in a different way. I was ready for combat. Mentally and physically I prepared for it. It’s just who I was inside. I need that outlet. So I think it was a healthy thing for me.”
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At that age you’re still developing. I believe when you’re learning all these things it stays in your mind a different way [than if you] were learning as an adult. It sinks in more. It’s permanent thing your body will learn. That’s why I think fighting and martial arts and the way I approach it, it’s just everything I know. It’s everything for me. This is my life. I’m completely dedicated to it. I do believe it’s a positive thing for me, but I think it’s case to case.
As far as my long career, and continuing to have a long career, I don’t see it being a problem. I really had two fights, one in particular, that I took a lot of damage in. And that was the Robbie Lawler fight, and I got beaten up by Carlos Condit early in my UFC career. Again, [the Condit fight] wasn’t a terrible beating. The Robbie Lawler fight, it was a car accident. Besides that, I pretty much dominated my fights, they weren’t really that competitive. I didn’t take any damage.
My body’s been pretty healthy considering how long I’ve been doing this. I’m taking care of myself. I can see another good 10 years in this sport.