It's been long enough since Rory MacDonald fought Mike Pyle that I kind of had to recheck the books (Wikipedia) and make sure that fight actually happened and that the UFC isn't just releasing sim fight footage from EA Sports. But yes, back in 2011, a 22-year-old Rory Mac (then "the Waterboy") fought for the 4th time in the UFC. MacDonald had already racked up wins over Mike Guymon and Nate Diaz (sandwiching his famous loss to Carlos Condit).
The event was UFC 133, headlined by Rashad Evans putting a hellacious beating on Tito Ortiz, with Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama in the co-main event. It was also the UFC's last trip to Philadelphia.
The fight itself started as a pretty staid contest, with Rory landing his jab more or less at will, while Pyle looked for opportunites to clinch him up and get takedowns. Once Pyle finally got his takedown though, Rory made him pay for it. Rory ate a few shots off his back about 2 minutes into the first round, and once he got back to his feet, the fight was all bad intentions. After a hard combo, a power guillotine attempt, and a couple of hard kicks, MacDonald dove into Pyle's guard and wrecked him with a series of hooks and elbows for the TKO.
MacDonald is scheduled to face Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson in the main event of this weekend's UFC Fight Night card in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Here's a look at the card as it currently stands:
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