NEW YORK – [autotag]Rory MacDonald[/autotag] isn’t going to fight forever, and he knows it.
This is part of the reason why the Canadian standout, who is only 30 but has competed professionally since he was 16, is glad he’s now a part of the Professional Fighters League.
Should the former Bellator welterweight champion reach peak performance, he’ll compete five times in 2020: Twice in the regular season, and three times in the playoffs, including a $1 million championship fight at year’s end.
And at this stage of the game, this is music to MacDonald’s ears.
“I think my last year fighting and a couple others years fighting I was very busy,” MacDonald told MMA Junkie on Monday. “So, it’s something I’ve wanted to do because after my second fight with Robbie Lawler, I had this really bad nose injury, kept taking me out of fights.”
If you look at MacDonald’s career ledger, he fought twice apiece each year from 2009-2013, then once each year from 2015-2017.
“I had years in my career where I was benched,” he said. “And I got one fight a year, sometimes zero, maybe one or two, and I always crave being more active. So I think it comes at a really good time of my life to be in the cage more often, and it’s something I crave, to be active as a fighter.”
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And it’s not just staying active over the course of the year that has MacDonald excited. Assuming the PFL maintains the format it held over its first two seasons, if all went to plan, he’d fight the quarterfinals and semifinals on the same night, which delights his inner fight nerd.
“I never would have thought that would have came in this day and age of MMA, but it’s a great opportunity,” MacDonald said. “Kind of brings the old school back from the old PRIDE days. When I was a kid watching, they used to do tournaments in one night, in K-1 they do one-night tournaments, and I always thought it was amazing. It tests your strength and your character. So, I’m excited.”
So long as he handles his business in the cage, PFL’s format will allow MacDonald to progress in an orderly manner based on how he performs, not based on the whims of a promoter who might consider box office first and actual competition a distant second. And this, too, was a factor in making the jump.
“I’m excited to see who they bring in also to fight me for the next season,” MacDonald said. “That’s the exciting thing about PFL, you never really have the same bracket every year, so there is going to be some new blood. I’m excited, man. It’s going to be a great season.”
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