Kelowna’s MacDonald making Bellator debut tonight
Former UFC welterweight to face Daley in England
Canadian Rory MacDonald, a former UFC welterweight contender, isn’t thinking about titles as he makes his Bellator debut.
“Honestly I’m not too worried about being champ. I’m just there to take out whoever’s in front of me,” said MacDonald, a native of Quesnel who trains at Toshido MMA in Kelowna and the Tristar Gym in Montreal. “Obviously it would be nice to fight for the title, but I’m not putting a lot of pressure on that. I just want to go out there and wreck people the way I know I can.”
MacDonald (18-4-0) kicks off his plan to wreak havoc in the Bellator ranks tonight when he takes on brash Brit Paul Daley (39-14-2) at London’s SSE Arena, formerly known as Wembley Arena.
Watching will be Bellator champ Douglas Lima (28-6-0), who won a decision over Daley last July in between losing the 170-pound title and winning it back from Russian Andrey Koreshkov.
MacDonald, 27, signed with Bellator last August after his UFC contract expired. His last fight in the UFC was a June 2016 loss to current No. 2 contender Stephen Thompson.
Daley’s last opponent — Brennan Ward — was stretchered out of the cage in January after having his face carved open by a vicious flying knee at Bellator 170.
MacDonald won the King of the Cage Canadian lightweight title at 18 — in his sixth fight — and the King of the Cage world 155-pound title in his next outing a year later. He was 20 when he made his UFC debut, dispatching veteran Mike Guymon in four minutes 27 seconds.
“Watch that name. He’s going to go far,” said then-welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, who shares the same Montreal gym.
The stone-faced MacDonald went on to win nine of 13 UFC fights. Two of the losses were at the hands of Robbie Lawler, including a July 2015 title challenge that lasted a bloody 21 minutes and was named fight of the year.
Daley, who has won 10 of his last 12 bouts, also has UFC roots. He won two of three there before being thrown out of the organization in 2010 for sucker-punching Josh Koscheck in the cage after a decision loss.
Meanwhile, the highly anticipated boxing match between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr. is closer to becoming a reality.
UFC President Dana White said Thursday that he has reached a deal with McGregor, MMA’s biggest star, and he will now start negotiations on a mega fight with the retired Mayweather that could be worth $1 billion.