MMA Veteran At 20: Rory MacDonald

On The Spot ~ Rory MacDonald

Most teenage Canadian males have aspirations of one day playing along side the greatest hockey players in world. Rory MacDonald did not see it that way; at 16 years old he made his professional mixed martial arts debut. He made his start, with his parents permission, against Terry Thiara at "Extreme Fighting Challenge 4" in his native province of British Columbia, winning by way of rear-naked choke. MacDonald went on to win five fights in a row and captured the King Of The Cage lightweight championship belt at the tender age of 18.

Undefeated, MacDonald has won six fights by submission while picking up four wins by way of knockout or technical knockout. His next fight is rumored to be against former WEC Weltereight Champion Carlos Condit at UFC 115 in Vancouver, British Columbia. It would be a very evenly matched fight which could vault MacDonald up the welterweight ladder.

B.L: Do you primarily stay at one camp or do you travel around to improve your game?

R.M: Basically, I train all of my fight camp at Toshido, but lately I have been going out to Montreal to train at Tristar now and again, with GSP and everyone out there and that has been a great experience for me.

B.L: Your body seems to fill out more and more each time we see you, how much weight do you have to cut to make 170 pounds?

R.M: Well basically I am around 185 to 190 then I usually start cutting water weight at around 180 but I will weigh 190 by fight time.

B.L: Your rumored fight for that card is against Carlos Condit, what kind of problems does he pose for you?

R.M: I can't confirm this fight, but as far as what i think about fighting a guy like Condit, I believe he's an amazing fighter with all the right tools [to] make a great fight with me.

B.L: You are only 20 years old but seem to be on the fast track, would you rather face the top dogs in the division or be built up slowly?

R.M: Well every fight before I got to the UFC was kind of a building block for me as far as developing me slowly to who I am now. I believe I have lots of years to improve, but when I was ready to make the jump into the UFC I fully understood that I could be fighting anyone in the stacked welterweight division--and that doesnt worry me at all, it excites me to be able to fight the best group of guys in the world.

Full Interview: Source

Fairly extraordinary, if you ask me.