Rory MacDonald working through some 'disappointment with Bellator' since signing

[Clappin'Daddys]

Rory MacDonald hasn’t been completely satisfied with his switch to Bellator from the UFC, but he said he’s remaining optimistic about a brighter future with his new home.

MacDonald (19-4 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), a former UFC welterweight title challenger, signed with Bellator as a free agent in August 2016. He made his intentions immediately known and expressed a desire to stay active and chase belts in not just one – but multiple weight classes.

The Canadian admitted things haven’t progressed quite as quickly as he’d expected since signing with Bellator. After recovering from some lingering injuries, he finally made his promotional debut in May with a second-round submission win over Paul Daley at Bellator 179.

Although the victory positioned MacDonald as the next to challenge Bellator welterweight titleholder Douglas Lima (29-6 MMA, 11-2 BMMA), he must wait until Jan. 20 to fight in the Spike-televised headliner at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif.

For MacDonald, there’s simply been too much waiting around.

“I’ve expressed my disappointment with Bellator,” MacDonald told MMAjunkie. “I had some conversations with (Bellator President) Scott Coker expressing that. I’m not the type of fighter that needs to be sidelined and fight once a year. I need to be kept busy. I think he knows now. I think he wants to improve on that in 2018 and keep me more busy. I’m waiting. We’ll see. I hope that I’ll get at least three fights in during 2018.”

Although MacDonald understands of the complexities of fight promotion – bout agreements, dates, locations – his expectation upon signing with Bellator was slightly different from what’s played out.

MacDonald said he’s not disgruntled to the point of regretting leaving the UFC after 13 octagon appearances. However, he hopes things improve. One thing that could do that, he said, is seeing Bellator host a fight card in his native Canada sooner than later.

Originally, “The Red King” thought his fight with Lima would take place somewhere in Canada. Now he said he hopes to make his first defense of the title in his homeland should he emerge victorious against Lima.

“It’s been a slow process with Bellator,” MacDonald said. “I think their organization is – they’re a little bit scattered. It’s a small staff, and things like that. But they’re doing the best they can. I’m sure 2018 we’ll get that ball rolling. Once I’m the champion, I think that creates more excitement going into Canada, going in as the champion. It’s more meaningful to promote a fight up there having a Canadian champion. We’ll see what happens.”

Rory MacDonald working through some 'disappointment with Bellator' since signing

 

[TheEmperorRises]

They better give him all the fights he wants in 2018.

 

[Mishima Zaibatsu]

Equivalent to buyers remorse?

 

[TheEmperorRises]

Equivalent to buyers remorse?

Not yet, since he said he voiced the concern to Coker. If they drop the ball with him after next year though, then yes.

 

[Clappin'Daddys]

This is one thing I need to knock Bellator for. A lot of their fighters simply aren’t active enough. We have champs sitting out 8 months while being completely healthy. How can u build fighters like that?

That has always been Bellators problem.

 

[member 3289]

This is one thing I need to knock Bellator for. A lot of their fighters simply aren’t active enough. We have champs sitting out 8 months while being completely healthy. How can u build fighters like that?

That has always been Bellators problem.

They're getting better, but yeah, I agree, they're plagued with a lack of depth in most of their divisions.

They probably could find 3 fights a year for Rory, but 2/3 would be against guys most fans have never heard of.

 

[Jesus X]

this isn't good for bellator if they are trying to recruit top talent makes them look bad.

 

[ShakaSway]

I'm not entirely familiar with how booking arenas/venues go, or any of that. So if anyone wants to drop some knowledge, would be much appreciated. Would speculate its due to, as previous mentioned by nut hugger, the depth/name recognition is not entirely there, plus imagine its somewhat tougher to get as many shows as UFC year round as a smaller company.

 

[Clappin'Daddys]

I'm not entirely familiar with how booking arenas/venues go, or any of that. So if anyone wants to drop some knowledge, would be much appreciated. Would speculate its due to, as previous mentioned by nut hugger, the depth/name recognition is not entirely there, plus imagine its somewhat tougher to get as many shows as UFC year round as a smaller company.

From what I’ve read around. Promotions like Bellator and the ufc pretty much lay their entire year out at the beginning of the calendar/fiscal year. They pretty much know where and when they are headed. I’m sure Coker isn’t in the business of pissing fighters off. I feel that it is unfortunately a matter of timing. Bellator does only so many big tentpole events a year(as they are still growing). Someone like Rory is someone they’d likely want headlining big arena events. Now let’s say that their next tentpole(arena event) isn’t for another 5 months. Timing and logic says that Rory is going to need to wait 5 months. I feel that it’s a timing thing more often than not.


Edit: I’d also like to add the fact that Bellator just had an event at the SAP Center. Some might say, “well, why didn’t they book lima/Rory for that event” I think the logical reason is that Lima was in contract negotiation at the time. He didn’t re-sign until recently

 

[ShakaSway]

From what I’ve read around. Promotions like Bellator and the ufc pretty much lay their entire year out at the beginning of the calendar/fiscal year. They pretty much know where and when they are headed. I’m sure Coker isn’t in the business of pissing fighters off. I feel that it is unfortunately a matter of timing. Bellator does only so many big tentpole events a year(as they are still growing). Someone like Rory is something they’d likely want headlining big arena events. Now let’s say that their next tentpole(arena event) isn’t for another 5 months. Timing and logic says that Rory is going to need to wait 5 months. I feel that it’s a timing thing more often than not.


Edit: I’d also like to add the fact that Bellator just had an event at the SAP Center. Some might say, “well, why didn’t they book lima/Rory for that event” I think the logical reason is that Lima was in contract negotiation at the time. He didn’t re-sign until recently

Appreciate the details, good crying baby sir

 

[kneeblock]

I hate to say it, but Rory will likely be back in the UFC by 2019.

 

[TheEmperorRises]

They're getting better, but yeah, I agree, they're plagued with a lack of depth in most of their divisions.

They probably could find 3 fights a year for Rory, but 2/3 would be against guys most fans have never heard of.

Maybe, but no one had heard of Rory either until they matched him against guys like Condit, Diaz, and BJ Penn.

 

[Mishima Zaibatsu]

I hate to say it, but Rory will likely be back in the UFC by 2019.

Why is that a bad thing?

First he beats the shit out of Lima, takes that Bellator belt, then comes back and becomes the champ at 170 in the UFC by doing what he did already against Wood.

Bellator and UFC WW champ, baby!

 

[kneeblock]

Why is that a bad thing?

First he beats the shit out of Lima, takes that Bellator belt, then comes back and becomes the champ at 170 in the UFC by doing what he did already against Wood.

Bellator and UFC WW champ, baby!

Only because I'd like to see Bellator become a legit alternative work environment.

 

[Wild]

Only because I'd like to see Bellator become a legit alternative work environment.

Never know. They may get him 3-4 fights next year, pick up a few more free agents, and suddenly Rory's looking at things with a totally different perspective. Bellator's still evolving, and like Rory said, they're working with a very small staff. Hopefully things improve going forward.

 

[Clappin'Daddys]

Never know. They may get him 3-4 fights next year, pick up a few more free agents, and suddenly Rory's looking at things with a totally different perspective. Bellator's still evolving, and like Rory said, they're working with a very small staff. Hopefully things improve going forward.

I agree. Ufc is the one with older/fading welter weights. Bellators ww Division is around 6 Years younger on average. Also, ufc has been in the business of letting fighters go. Bellator has been in the business of picking them up. You could add 1-2 more fighters to the mix and things could get interesting. All that said though, it’s not like Rory has cleaned the division out. He’s had one fight.

 

[GSPTrainingInAPool]

When you get paid per fight, it only makes sense that Rory wants to fight all the time. He's not being paid to train, train, train

Bellator being a smaller organization than the UFC can't sustain having PPV cards, fight nights, fights on fox, whatever else events the UFC puts on piratically every weekend. Bellator needs to put guys that would be on a "fight night type" event on main cards. Clogs things up a bit with their champs/stars

 

[Mishima Zaibatsu]

Only because I'd like to see Bellator become a legit alternative work environment.

But with the way Rory is talking about his treatment there, will Bellator be able to hang on to the best fighters?

I'd like to see Bellator become a more competitive product, but lets be real, the UFC has history behind it, people don't call it MMA all the time, they call it "UFC", Bellator isn't what people think about when they think about cage fighting.

 

[Andrewsimar Palhardass]

This is one thing I need to knock Bellator for. A lot of their fighters simply aren’t active enough. We have champs sitting out 8 months while being completely healthy. How can u build fighters like that?

That has always been Bellators problem.

I think it's because their stable isn't deep enough to have a lot of big events. They like to get a few of their biggest names on cards together, rather than having a good headliner and a bunch of 3-1 guys under it.

 

[The EZ Life]

Come back to the UFC bro....