UFC Hall of Famer Rory MacDonald is getting that itch again.
Three years have passed since MacDonald retired in the aftermath of a first-round loss to Dilano Taylor in the PFL. The former Bellator welterweight champion and one-time UFC title challenger seemingly abandoned the sport he’d devoted his life to afterward, however MacDonald, 36, has recently returned to training as hard and as often as he did in his prime. Speaking on Tuesday’s edition of Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show,” MacDonald left the door open for a possible in-cage return.
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“I don’t know, but I’m back in the gym full time,” MacDonald said of fighting again. “It’s got me loving training again, that’s for sure. I don’t know what that will lead to, but I’m enjoying my time in martial arts again. It just feels good.
“I’m training twice a day, three times a day. It is more than staying in shape, for sure. I’m trying to improve myself. There’s nothing for sure, I’m just having fun at this point and I’m letting God just take the direction in my life — and where the doors open, if there’s opportunities, I’m going down that path.”
MacDonald parted ways with the UFC after his unanimous decision loss to Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in June 2016. From there, MacDonald instantly made an impact in Bellator, choking out Paul Daley the following year and then dethroning welterweight champion Douglas Lima.
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After fighting to a controversial draw with Jon Fitch in Bellator’s 2019 welterweight tournament, MacDonald first mentioned feeling like something was missing within his fighting spirit. He continued on for eight more bouts with Bellator and PFL, but that feeling only worsened, leading to his eventual retirement.
In that sense, MacDonald said, the total refresh of the past few years has been helpful.
“The fire is always there, it’s always part of me,” he said. “I feel like that was put inside me from an early age. That competition and the love for martial arts. That never really died when I left. Even when I was burned out, I still carried that edge with me. Even though I’m at peace and everything, I’m happy and I’m in a much better life than what I was when I was in the UFC and in my career, but I still have that part of me that I think I’ll carry for all of my life.
“I was just burned out. And when you’re tired of doing something for so long and not seeing results, I don’t know — a lot of things that just didn’t go your way, then you get disappointed about it, and it carries a heaviness about it. But time sometimes can heal.”
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The Canadian legend was widely touted as a future titleholder upon his arrival to the UFC in 2010 as a teammate and protege of Georges St-Pierre. MacDonald came close to fulfilling that goal in his Hall of Fame rematch with Robbie Lawler at UFC 189 in 2015, but the UFC title ultimately eluded his career.
The eventual accumulation of his setbacks is what resulted in his retirement, MacDonald said. He began competing professionally at the age of 16, making him a martial artist for more than half of his life.
“I was just disappointed that I didn’t accomplish my goals,” MacDonald said. “I was just a little burned out from the sport and just needed that time away. I had other interests that I wanted to pursue. That’s basically what I did. I just kind of cut ties with martial arts for a while and then went down and explored some different interests of mine.
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“I didn’t watch anything, didn’t really keep up with the date much. I wasn’t training for at least a year or so, I would say. Then I got back in the gym and training and watching shortly in small amounts.
“I think the main reason was being burned out about it and disappointment of how things went, and just a mixture of both of that. Being burned out, not having the drive and interest anymore and disappointment about not accomplishing things. But I’m grateful for it because the last three years have given me a lot of time to do a lot of self-work and look internally, reminisce about memories and things like that. It was really good for me.”
MacDonald said his first encounter with Lima in 2018 is where things all changed for him. At the time, his free agency had marked a significant shift in the MMA landscape, with Bellator offering him a contract that was substantially better than what he’d been paid in his longtime UFC home.
In the end, life became overwhelming for “The Red King,” but he’s finally managed to balance things out.
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“It was after the first Douglas Lima fight — I think taking all that damage, I think making better money, that was a distraction,” MacDonald admitted, “and the lifestyle that comes with it, and just adjusting to that. I think I had to grow up and adjust to that. It definitely started after the Lima fight, where I just kind of lost my passion. I would have mixed results in my fights after that, I find.
“It was interesting timing. I had new family that was unplanned. Suddenly, I’m a family man. Then my faith turned around big time, I was navigating that. All this money pouring in, it was a lot to handle at the time for me, I think.”
