Rory Macdonald Proves He Belongs in the UFC
by Michael Rome on Jan 15, 2010 6:00 PM EST
in MMA News
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I finally had the opportunity to see Rory Macdonald's UFC debut, and I came away both impressed and excited about his future. At 20 years old, Macdonald is the youngest member of the UFC roster. His debut was against Mike Guymon, a veteran fighter who is sadly notorious for his suicide attempt. Going into their fight, Macdonald was 9-0 and Guymon was 11-2 with losses to Pat Healy and Diego Sanchez. Guymon is no world beater, but he's also no joke. Getting his shot in the UFC was his dream come true, and he was going to make the most of it.
Macdonald's performance was far from flawless. He wasn't strong enough to keep Guymon down when he got him there the first time, and he took a big right hand that momentarily buckled him. However, these mistakes also gave him the opportunity to show his impressive resilience and composure. He survived the big shot, got Guymon down, went for a kimura, and then moved to an armbar when the opening was there. It was a veteran-like performance from a 20 year old.
Macdonald's striking and wrestling looked good too. He had a nice jab, threw punches in combinations, and was able to easily stuff all of Guymon's takedown attempts. One obstacle for him at this point is size; he is a small welterweight, and I think he would get ragdolled by the huge 170's. At the same time, he's only 20 years old and he's still growing. I suspect that in 2-3 years he'll be one of the bigger guys in the division.
Macdonald is a special prospect because he's trained in "MMA" from the beginning. He's not a college wrestler or jiu-jitsu champion that learned other skills; he's slowly bringing every skill along in tandem. He's also from British Columbia, which is a big deal for the UFC. If they got a St. Pierre-level fighter out of British Columbia it would be huge for them; the UFC does bigger business in Vancouver than it does in Montreal.
Macdonald, like other prospects, is nowhere near his peak as a fighter. From what I've seen, his peak is probably over 3 years away. He may be in the UFC too early, so it's up to Joe Silva to bring him along at the right pace. What's next for Macdonald? Probably a fight in Vancouver in June, hopefully on the main card.
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At only 20, he’s finished all of his fights and has wins over Clay French and the aforementioned Guymon. This kid is the real deal.. I hope he does make a main card the next time around and gets some hype started.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
Huge fan of Rory, but he’s going to need to get out of his Kelowna gym ASAP. Now that he’s at the elite level, he’s going to have to join an elite gym. And other than Revolution in Surrey, there’s nothing much else of note in BC.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
I should amend that slightly – Zuma in Victoria (Sarah Kaufman’s gym) is pretty good, but hardly elite.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
As a ZUMA alum, I’d argue that. Their head instructor is amazing, they have Marcus Soares, Leo Santos, and other guys like that coming in constantly, they do cross-training with Jackson in New Mexico, and their fighters have some great success, even if it’s in the smaller orgs. I think they’re really starting to build up an incredible group of people and skill, and the only reason they aren’t more well-known is because of their location. Tarek Gabali is an up and coming LW from there, and he’s a wrecking machine; Ryan Ford has completely turned his career around since he started training there; and they’ve got some other serious pros like Gavin Neil, some pro-kickboxers, and a generally very high level of training.
If elite is a measure of how well known a place is or the names that train there, then ZUMA is not elite. If it’s a measure of how far a palce can push your training and how much better they can make you, then speaking only from my own experiences, they should be talked about as elite.
"I'm AJB and I endorse this nut-puncher."
I don’t think the problem is the quality of the instruction … it is the quality of the training partners. He needs to train with people who can put him in bad positions and force him to improve or get his ass kicked in the gym. He needs to train someplace where he is not the alpha dog.
yeah, but I’m an outrageous homer on this issue and cannot be convinced so take your rational arguments and NYEEEEAH.
So there.
"I'm AJB and I endorse this nut-puncher."
I actually added the Zuma disclaimer because I knew that you trained there (you’re not there anymore though, right?). But, Steve4192 covered it pretty well. That’s why I wouldn’t refer to them (or even Revolution) as elite. It terms of Rory, he needs to get a gym where he’s going to seriously get his ass kicked a lot. At his age, that’d be the best thing for him. He’s not going to get that in BC…possibly not even in Canada at all.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
Also
Strength and conditioning, stat. I know that he’s still growing, but a lot of younger guys learn that lesson too late as opposed to earlier on.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
Can’t wait until 3-4 years from now when GSP retires and high fives another Canadian to take over the WW belt.
Keep firing Assholes!
Melvin Manhoff is my favorite fighter.
I can’t wait for the MMA Montreal Screwjob
We're just a million little gods causin' rain storms, turning every good thing to rust.
by Anthony Pace on Jan 15, 2010 6:16 PM EST up reply actions
Totally
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
Not taking away from MacDonald, but that GSP high five is probably going to go to a guy named Derek Gauthier. And his fight picture on Sherdog, is the wrong guy, although the record is right. If you have any way of seeing this kids fights, watch them. Tons of potential.
As in this Derek ‘the sex machine’ Gauthier? +5 for the nickname.
by WanderleiNoooooo! on Jan 16, 2010 9:40 AM EST up reply actions
Make haste;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siHRv2d6gpM
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
Too late, eh?
If I find another one, I’ll post it again.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
Take-away's from the fight
Competent takedowns, good takedown defense, question mark for his chin, competent striking offense, active top game, good guard pass, excellent submission awareness (switching arms on Guymon to secure the bar).
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
“Macdonald is a special prospect because he’s trained in “MMA” from the beginning."
The only thing that concerns me about this is I wonder if in the future the sport will become less diverse, with most of the competitors being all round MMA fighters rather than standing out in one particular area. Fighters like Maia, Machida, Cro-cop, and other guys who bring something different to the table are one of the things that makes MMA so interesting.
I don’t believe this will ever be a problem. Fighters will naturally excel at one facet or another, or be the rare specimen that takes to them all. Besides, would that really be so bad?
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
I think there will always be a bit of each.
You can go up against a guy well versed and above average in each of the common disciplines (which I consider to be boxing, muay thai/kickboxing, wrestling, and BJJ) and wreck him by having outstanding striking, poor submission skills, but strong TDD, scrambles, and submission defense.
Mike Brown is one of the most well rounded and fundamental fighters around the top of a division. Aldo could have no submission skills whatsoever and still would have won the fight based on insane striking ability, reflexes, and takedown defense. If the change you propose happens, it is years and years away.
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
I also wonder if this will lead to shorter careers.
Guys who learn wreslting first, for example, enter MMA already with the ability to control many aspects of a fight, so they eat fewer big shots in their early fights as they learn the other parts of the sport.
You only get a few big knockouts before your chin goes away.
I like using semi-colons; they make me feel smart.
Well there, Negative Nancy, thanks for the insightful commentary. Putting aside this quote from the first paragraph:
Guymon is no world beater, but he’s also no joke.
…and this one from the last paragraph:
He may be in the UFC too early
…let’s reitterate that he’s a prospect. Prospects, by definition, have a ton of potential but have yet to fully develop that potential. Minimize the accomplishment however you want, as a 20 year old fighting for the first time on the big stage of the UFC, Macdonald got the job done and didn’t look terribly out of place doing it.
"I'm AJB and I endorse this nut-puncher."
I agree. While I know that the UFC isn’t a place to really develop, I don’t want to see a prospect like Macdonald F’d up because he was rushed in too early. That’s why I am all in favor of the WEC being the training ground. I always felt guys like Faber and Torres, etc. should be in the UFC, with the WEC having a bunch of prospects fighting each other, and basically developing for a year or two before moving to the UFC. I think the WEC should return to having all the major weight classes, and have guys like Macdonald develop there. Basically, WEC would be the farm team.
I love me some Sexyama!
“the UFC does bigger business in Vancouver than it does in Montreal.”
Huh… what? Where is the evidence of that exactly? Just on the superficial level, it just doesn’t make much sense. I mean Montreal was the largest gate (in numbers, not money) they had for a while (don’t know if that is still true). Montreal is 5 hour drive from Toronto, 8 from New York. Apart from Seattle (which is about as big as Montreal in the first place and Vancouver is 2/3 of it) what exactly is in the 8 hour radius? Calgary? Please.
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