Tag: Rory MacDonald

Rory MacDonald vs. Brian Ebersole and Claude Patrick vs. Rich Attonito Added to UFC 140 in Toronto


(The UFC’s second Toronto card is coming together nicely.)

Keeping with it’s latest trend of beating reporters to the punch when it comes to breaking news of fight bookings, the UFC announced that a pair of welterweight bouts have been added to UFC 140 on December 10 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto today, via UFC.com.

British Columbia-born wunderkind Rory “Ares” MacDonald (12-1) will take on “Hairrow” stylist and cartwheel-kick aficionado Brian “The White Anderson Silva”  Ebersole (48-14-1, 1 NC) on the card, while former CagePotato TUF 11 guest blogger Rich “The Raging Bull” Attonito (10-4) will see action against durable Toronto-based fighter Claude “The Prince” Patrick (14-1).


(The UFC’s second Toronto card is coming together nicely.)

Keeping with it’s latest trend of beating reporters to the punch when it comes to breaking news of fight bookings, the UFC announced that a pair of welterweight bouts have been added to UFC 140 on December 10 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto today, via UFC.com.

British Columbia-born wunderkind Rory “Ares” MacDonald (12-1) will take on “Hairrow” stylist and cartwheel-kick aficionado Brian “The White Anderson Silva”  Ebersole (48-14-1, 1 NC) on the card, while former CagePotato TUF 11 guest blogger Rich “The Raging Bull” Attonito (10-4) will see action against durable Toronto-based fighter Claude “The Prince” Patrick (14-1).

3-1 in four UFC bouts, MacDonald continued to impress in his last outing, defeating seasoned veteran Mike Pyle by TKO at 3:54 of the opening frame at UFC 133 in August. He also holds Octagon wins over Nate Diaz at UFC 129 and Mike Guymon at UFN 20 and a heartbreaking loss to current welterweight contender Carlos Condit in the final seconds of their UFC 115 bout.

A veteran of 64 professional bouts, Ebersole will be a tough test for MacDonald, but he may have already made a slight error in judgment that may work in the favor of his opponent, who was formerly known as “The Waterboy” for his penchant for using anger to propel him to perform better in the cage. In an interview he did with MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani following his UFC win over Dennis Hallman, “TWAS” was asked if he was interested in fighting MacDonald who had dispatched of Pyle earlier in the night, to which Ebersole replied that the fight “didn’t interest him.”

“After UFC 127 I kind of asked for Dennis Hallman or Matt Serra because they’re veterans [who have] big records — kind of like Chris Lytle — they bring out that samurai spirit in me and I know it would be a good battle of not just athleticism, but kind of like a chess match. I saw Matt Serra here tonight; he’s looking a bit out of shape. I don’t know if he’s retired or what his story is, but if he’s still competing I guess he’s kind of the one guy before he retires I would like to compete against him,” Ebersole explained. “There’s a couple of older guys — I know Renzo [Gracie] just got a contract. I don’t know if the UFC would give me Renzo, but right now I know I’m not in line for a title shot and I’m not looking at the top guys so I would like to fight guys that really interest me and those are the veterans. Those are the guys that have stories that I’ve watched as a fan in this sport. I don’t want to fight the Rory MacDonald who’s 21 years old and [has] two or three fights. I don’t know anything about the kid. That doesn’t excite me.”

Patrick and Attonito, meanwhile, have unanimous decision wins over a common opponent, Daniel Roberts in their last respective bouts and will both be looking to climb the ladder with a win over the other.

Although it hasn’t been announced yet, a featherweight bout between former number one contender Mark “The Machine” Hominick and “The Korean Zombie” Jung Chan-Sung is also rumored to be in the works for the card, as is a lightweight bout between John Cholish and Canadian UFC newcomer Mitch Clarke.

 

 

 

 

Dana White’s UFC Live on Versus 5 Video Blog Day 1

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

Since he’s on his way to Wisconsin for the lead-up media appearances for Sunday night’s UFC Live on Versus 5: Hardy vs. Lytle event, Dana White’s first video blog for the show is more of a recap of UFC 133, which is just as well.

It’s interesting to see Dana’s non reaction to Vitor Belfort’s win over Yoshihiro Akiyama. He can clearly be heard telling Lorenzo Fertitta that the finishing blows by “The Phenom” were to the back of “Sexyama’s” head. Neither UFC executive showed little emotion when Belfort came over to their side of the Octagon to let them know he’s back and White later said in an interview that the former UFC light heavyweight champion would have to chew on his loss to Anderson Silva for a while before he gets another title shot.


(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

Since he’s on his way to Wisconsin for the lead-up media appearances for Sunday night’s UFC Live on Versus 5: Hardy vs. Lytle event, Dana White’s first video blog for the show is more of a recap of UFC 133, which is just as well.

It’s interesting to see Dana’s non reaction to Vitor Belfort’s win over Yoshihiro Akiyama. He can clearly be heard telling Lorenzo Fertitta that the finishing blows by “The Phenom” were to the back of “Sexyama’s” head. Neither UFC executive showed little emotion when Belfort came over to their side of the Octagon to let them know he’s back and White later said in an interview that the former UFC light heavyweight champion would have to chew on his loss to Anderson Silva for a while before he gets another title shot.

Another pair of interesting moments came when Rory MacDonald finished Mike Pyle and White was too busy texting or on tweeting to notice, and when Dennis Hallman came out in his grape smugglers and a disgusted Dana said that the shorts should be illegal.

Dana seemed genuinely freaked out when Rashad emerged from the dressing room wearing a splint following his win over Tito Ortiz, but according to Evans, it’s just a dislocation.

Rory MacDonald Brought No Emotion to His UFC 129 Fight

Filed under: , ,

TORONTO — MMA Fighting spoke to UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald about his one-sided UFC 129 win over Nate Diaz, the three powerful suplexes in the third round and the experience of fighting in front of a record North American crowd.

Filed under: , ,

TORONTO — MMA Fighting spoke to UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald about his one-sided UFC 129 win over Nate Diaz, the three powerful suplexes in the third round and the experience of fighting in front of a record North American crowd.

UFC 129 Live Blog: Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald Updates

Filed under: UFCTORONTO — This is the UFC 129 live blog for Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald, a welterweight bout on tonight’s Spike TV portion of the card at the Rogers Centre.

Diaz (13-6) fought earlier in January and lost to Dong Hyun Kim via unanimou…

Filed under:

Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald is a fight on the UFC 129 undercard.TORONTO — This is the UFC 129 live blog for Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald, a welterweight bout on tonight’s Spike TV portion of the card at the Rogers Centre.

Diaz (13-6) fought earlier in January and lost to Dong Hyun Kim via unanimous decision. MacDonald (10-1) is coming off the first loss of his career, a TKO at the hands of Carlos Condit at UFC 115 last June.

The live blog is below.

Rory MacDonald Used Carlos Condit Loss as Motivation for UFC 129 Bout

Filed under: , , ,

TORONTO — Watch below as Rory MacDonald talks about his UFC 129 fight against Nate Diaz, what he learned from his devastating loss to Carlos Condit, his time away from MMA dealing with injuries, moving to Montreal, his thoughts on Diaz and much more.

Filed under: , , ,

TORONTO — Watch below as Rory MacDonald talks about his UFC 129 fight against Nate Diaz, what he learned from his devastating loss to Carlos Condit, his time away from MMA dealing with injuries, moving to Montreal, his thoughts on Diaz and much more.

Haunted by First Defeat, Rory MacDonald Looks to Rebound at UFC 129

Filed under: UFCIt’s been ten months since UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald (10-1) lost a heartbreaker of a fight to Carlos Condit at UFC 115, and he’s finally put it behind him.

Well, mostly. Sort of.

That is to say, he’s put it behind as much as a…

Filed under:

It’s been ten months since UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald (10-1) lost a heartbreaker of a fight to Carlos Condit at UFC 115, and he’s finally put it behind him.

Well, mostly. Sort of.

That is to say, he’s put it behind as much as any fighter can after being stopped in the final ten seconds of a fight he was winning on the scorecards. Had he lasted just seven seconds longer, MacDonald would likely have won a split decision victory. Instead, he went home with his first loss, and he’s been feeling the sting of it ever since.

“It was difficult,” said the 21-year-old MacDonald. “It was really hard to deal with, but I think I’ve dealt with most of it by now. I still think I need to get in there again and win this fight [against Nate Diaz at UFC 129] to really get over it, and maybe one day I need to get a rematch with Carlos to fully get over it. I don’t know.”