0:00
(upbeat music)
0:02
- This is Undaunted Life, a Man's Podcast.
0:21
I'm your host Kyle Thompson.
0:22
Let's get into it.
0:23
All right guys, today we've got a return guest
0:25
on the podcast.
0:26
His name is Rory, the Red King, McDonald.
0:28
So Rory is an MMA fighter that is fought for the UFC.
0:31
Bellator, King of the Cajun, is now fighting
0:33
in the Professional Fighters League,
0:34
otherwise known as the PFL.
0:35
He's also the former Bellator, a welterweight champion.
0:38
His MMA record is 22, eight, and one.
0:40
And also he's an outspoken Christian.
0:42
So if you go back to episode 131 of this podcast,
0:45
that's when he and I spoke for the first time on this show.
0:47
We've remained friends and you know,
0:48
we talk here and there, you know, since then.
0:50
But being an outspoken Christian is very interesting for him
0:53
because he hasn't been a Christian his entire life.
0:55
And so go back to that episode.
0:56
We'll be in the show notes so you can check that out.
0:58
But this interview was a lot of fun
1:00
because we talked about the PFL.
1:01
And again, the PFL is a little bit different
1:03
than the UFC or Bellator or anything like that.
1:04
They do kind of a season format.
1:06
So some of the things that he refers to
1:07
is going to seem a little different
1:08
if you're just kind of a casual MMA fan.
1:10
But we talked about how he had a little bit
1:12
of a disappointing start to his PFL career.
1:15
He didn't win the PFL championship last year.
1:17
He lost to the eventual champion.
1:18
You know, we talked about some of the adjustments
1:20
that he's going to be making and that he has made.
1:22
He's got kind of a new training camp, a new training regiment.
1:24
He's back with John Donnerher,
1:26
who's one of the best minds in all of mixed martial arts,
1:28
you know, specifically with grappling.
1:30
But we get into a lot of stuff on this podcast.
1:32
We talk about fighter pay, you know,
1:33
how it's different in the PFL
1:35
than versus the UFC or Bellator.
1:36
We talk about Kayla Harrison.
1:38
We talk about, you know, MMA fighters going over
1:40
and trying their hand at boxing
1:41
and doing that type of thing.
1:43
That we talk about him fighting as a Christian again.
1:44
We talk about Cain Velasquez.
1:46
I give him some fantasy MMA matchups.
1:48
Like, hey, this guy or their prime versus that guy
1:50
and their prime.
1:51
But I just got to tell you one of the best things
1:53
from this interview is also one of the similar subjects
1:55
that was the best thing from the last interview.
1:57
Because in the last interview, whenever we spoke,
1:59
we talked a lot about his rematch against Robbie Lawler
2:02
at UFC 189.
2:04
And kind of what that was like is still, in my opinion,
2:07
the greatest welterweight fight of all time.
2:09
It's a top three fight for me ever.
2:11
Just an incredible fight, but it is a fight that he lost.
2:13
He got finished in the last round of that fight
2:15
and got, you know, beat up pretty good, you know,
2:17
had some serious facial damage and things like that.
2:20
But he told me a story from one of his fights
2:23
with Robbie Lawler because he's like,
2:24
hey, Robbie's just, you know, he's a different animal.
2:26
He's a different type of guy.
2:27
And I'm like, what do you mean by that?
2:28
Like, help me understand that.
2:29
And he told a story that I thought was incredible.
2:31
Like, I don't, I've never heard him say that before.
2:34
I'm pretty sure he's never said that on an interview.
2:36
So make sure you guys stick around for that.
2:37
So I think I've teed it up pretty well up to this point.
2:40
So I'm not going to keep him from you any longer.
2:41
So guys without further ado, let's get into it.
2:45
Rory McDonald, welcome back to Undaunted Life of Man's Podcast.
2:48
- Yeah, good to be here.
2:49
Thanks for having me.
2:50
- Yeah, you're a requested return guest,
2:53
but it's been a very, very long time since you've been on here.
2:56
So we got a lot of ground to cover.
2:57
But the last time we talked, you had signed
3:00
with the Professional Fighters League, the PFL,
3:02
but you had not yet fought for them.
3:03
So the 2022 regular season just kicked off, guys.
3:07
If you're listening to this on time,
3:08
on April 20th, the light weights and light heavy weights
3:10
got after it.
3:11
And then the feather weights and the heavy weights
3:13
on April the 28th.
3:14
And if you're listening to this on time,
3:15
this Friday, May the 6th on ESPN+ and ESPN2,
3:18
they're kicking off the women's lightweight division
3:21
and your division, the welterweight division.
3:23
But before we get into your opening round match up
3:25
and your opponent for this year,
3:27
we need to talk about last year.
3:28
So you, I'm sure it would be the first one to say
3:31
that you're not completely happy with how last season
3:34
turned out.
3:35
You won your first fight in very dominant fashion.
3:37
You rear naked choked Curtis Melinda in the first round.
3:40
Then you lost your next two fights.
3:42
You lost a unbelievable split decision to Gleason Tebow.
3:46
Like it was unbelievable.
3:48
I was absolutely shocked that you lost that fight,
3:50
but you did not get the decision.
3:52
And then you lost a fairly lopsided unanimous decision
3:55
to the eventual 2021 welterweight champion Ray Cooper the third.
3:58
So when your first year in a new organization,
4:00
you go one and two.
4:02
So tell me about how you feel about how the 2021 season went
4:05
and any adjustments maybe you want to make
4:07
coming into this season.
4:08
- Yeah, definitely didn't.
4:09
It was definitely not what I expected going in.
4:13
First fight was good.
4:14
Second fight was, I mean, I felt like I dominated the fight,
4:20
but didn't get the decision.
4:22
It's not my first rodeo with those.
4:25
So that happens.
4:27
Still made it to the playoffs for the points and everything.
4:31
And then I fought Ray and I just didn't have the best night.
4:36
So, you know, I took some time and we calibrated
4:41
and made some changes and I feel very good.
4:47
I feel like my best going into the season.
4:49
So I'm very confident that this year,
4:52
I'm going to walk with the championship.
4:54
- Well, before we get into some of the changes that you made
4:56
to go back to the fight against Ray Cooper the third,
4:59
I guess some people are like, okay,
5:00
if I'm going to lose to somebody,
5:01
I'd like to lose the eventual champion.
5:03
Whereas other people are like, no, screw that guy forever.
5:05
I hate him, I want to kill him.
5:06
But that was a fight that was very one-sided,
5:08
but there was not a whole lot of damage done.
5:10
You know, you didn't really get hurt.
5:12
You and I actually talked before that fight.
5:14
Something that you would have liked to have been able to use
5:16
would have been elbows.
5:17
I could have been a difference maker in that fight,
5:19
but you can't use elbows in the PFL
5:21
'cause you have to fight so many times in such a short period.
5:23
You don't want to have to deal with any cut issues.
5:24
At least that's my understanding of the rule set.
5:26
But I was shocked whenever I saw you get taken down
5:29
and just you were on your back for a lot of the fight
5:31
'cause Ray Cooper comes from a wrestling background,
5:34
but not like a crazy wrestling background.
5:35
So kind of walk me through what you were thinking in the fight,
5:39
like what was the game plan?
5:40
And then you kind of what happened in there
5:41
that made it not really be able to happen for you.
5:44
- Yeah, I don't like to really make excuses on things
5:48
of the past.
5:48
- Fair enough.
5:49
- So I'm going to skip over any of that.
5:53
You know, Ray came in and he used his wrestling.
5:59
I wanted to use my wrestling.
6:02
I just wasn't able to go out there and do it.
6:05
And yeah, it's just, it wasn't my night.
6:08
So, you know, next year's it's going to be a new version.
6:14
And hopefully I'll get to match up again with him.
6:16
So I can, you know, have a better show.
6:21
- Right. So in other words, Kyle shut up,
6:22
the passes in the past, I get it, I get it.
6:24
So let's move on.
6:26
So let's talk about some of the adjustments that you made.
6:29
So if people follow you on social media,
6:30
which they should, you can check it out in the show notes.
6:32
If you don't know how to just search someone's name,
6:34
but it seems like, you know, you've got a bit of a new camp,
6:37
a bit of a new training regiment.
6:39
You brought back some old familiar faces
6:41
or at least you're around some familiar faces.
6:43
Like a John Donnerher type guy.
6:45
I've seen you in the same picture with George St. Pierre
6:48
and with, you know, some other great dudes,
6:50
Gordon Ryan and Tim Kennedy and that type of thing.
6:53
So go through some of the changes that you've made
6:55
to kind of make some adjustments going into 2022.
6:58
- Yeah. So all of last year, 2021, I was in Florida.
7:03
And I was training with the Sanford and the May team.
7:07
And I really enjoyed the training.
7:12
I loved the guys. I was a great group.
7:14
Florida wasn't a great fit for me personally.
7:18
Anyway, before going to Florida,
7:23
I had an idea in my head, well, right around,
7:27
right just before COVID hit,
7:29
I was planning on traveling around the US
7:33
and finding some different training.
7:36
And one place that really stuck out to me was Austin, Texas.
7:42
Where Tim Kennedy was, I wanted to go check out what he was doing.
7:45
I like, you know, I like his attitude.
7:51
I love, you know, his, his fighting and his training
7:56
and his philosophy on things.
7:57
And I want to see what was happening there.
7:59
And it just so happened because of COVID,
8:03
I wasn't able to go there.
8:05
So I ended up going Florida because I had went there
8:11
on a vacation right before COVID hit.
8:14
And I was like, you know, it's a place I know.
8:16
And I got to get out of Canada.
8:19
Well, like I still could.
8:20
Yes, it's a border thing.
8:22
So anyway, we went down there and we did our year there.
8:25
But anyway, once the border situation cleared up,
8:31
by my season for PFL ended,
8:34
I wanted to go and try out Texas and see what it was about.
8:40
You know, there was some off time between fights
8:43
and a little bit easier to get through the border situation here in Canada.
8:48
And I just fell in love with the whole thing.
8:51
And because of COVID, John Donner, her, Gordon Ryan,
8:56
all those guys that I've trained with in the past from New York had moved.
9:02
They're just like a few months before that.
9:05
So it really all worked out.
9:09
You know, I love training with John and those guys from my Jiu-Jitsu and MMA.
9:14
And then, you know, me and Tim and the crew there really clicked.
9:19
And it's just been great.
9:21
I feel like my training's been awesome.
9:23
I've been enjoying my training.
9:25
I've been getting better physically and, you know, skill wise.
9:30
I feel like it leaps and bounds.
9:32
So I'm happy, you know, and I feel like that's a big, big part of that, you know,
9:37
finding a camp where it feels like the shoe fits.
9:40
You know, and that's what I feel like I found there in Texas.
9:43
And so are you just training in Texas or either full time?
9:47
Have you moved down there?
9:49
Are you still like based out of Canada?
9:50
What does that look like?
9:51
Yes.
9:52
So I'm just doing like a week in Montreal and a week in Texas.
9:56
And I've been doing that for quite a while now.
9:58
And just been going back and forth.
10:02
So it's been working out really well.
10:05
Sounds good. Well, I look forward to getting down there.
10:07
That's not too far from me.
10:08
So I'll go down there and let you guys use me as a punching bag.
10:11
And maybe talk to me a little bit about Donna Hur and, you know,
10:16
the guys that kind of follow him.
10:17
Yeah, I know the Donna, her death squad is kind of broken up and all that.
10:19
But he's still there with Gordon Ryan.
10:21
Talk about that crew because, I mean, you see guys that are, you know,
10:26
with John Donna Hur or directly affiliated, they're going in.
10:29
There's, there's a kid just this last week.
10:30
And I can't remember his name because I had never heard of him before.
10:33
He's been trained in 18 months and he went in and won the ADCC trials
10:37
and, you know, sub to everybody.
10:39
He was subbing guys that were had been black belts for over a decade.
10:42
What is it about John Donna Hur and how he breaks down, specifically grappling?
10:46
That is so different because it's like the dudes, a cheat code or something.
10:49
Yeah, no, I don't think he trains with John.
10:53
He's right. I think he was with the B team guy.
10:56
Yeah, but it was like, those are all the guys at John train that are now
10:59
training this guy. They're kind of, you know, off the tree of his.
11:02
Yeah, no, he did excellent, pretty crazy story.
11:06
You know, I think his brother is what's his name.
11:10
Rodriguez there.
11:13
Man, I'll try to look it up while you're while you're doing it.
11:16
I'm not going to. I need to give the guys some props here.
11:18
The big guy there.
11:20
I forget his name now.
11:22
Oh, Nicky Rod.
11:23
Nicky Rod.
11:24
Believe it's his brother and her brother.
11:25
OK, gotcha.
11:27
So it's kind of a similar story, actually, because I think Nicky had, you know,
11:32
pretty impressive showing a DCC and not only he's only trained a few months, too.
11:37
So yeah, he got bronze in his first ADCC and he had not been training
11:40
for very long. Didn't have this, you know, D one wrestling pedigree.
11:43
He just went in there and smashed.
11:45
Yeah, so there might be something in the blood there.
11:48
I don't know.
11:49
We are live from Feddi's house.
11:52
Guests are gathering around the TV, even with a big storm outside.
11:55
All we worried about the fee.
11:56
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But I mean, for Donna hurt, like it seems like there's a lot of people
12:23
that just kind of they're like that to where they train for a much shorter period
12:26
of time.
12:27
And when you hear John talk about it, he talks about to where it's like,
12:29
well, we're not going to drill a bunch of stuff that's not going to work.
12:32
And I feel like, you know, whenever I was first learning jujitsu,
12:34
I felt like I was drilling stuff that nobody I saw used on the main stage
12:39
or even in the room.
12:40
And I was just like, you know, kind of, why are we doing this?
12:42
But you don't want to be the white belt speaking up and saying, hey,
12:44
should we be learning this?
12:46
But it seems like John just doesn't have that confunction.
12:48
He's just like, we're going to do the stuff that works.
12:50
Yeah, absolutely.
12:51
He's very direct with his training.
12:53
He's very deliberate with what he teaches.
12:56
You can tell he's extremely focused right before he teaches a class.
13:02
And I think he likes to meditate on, you know, what he's going to teach
13:07
and how he's going to teach it.
13:09
And so when he delivers a class, it's clear instruction and very detailed.
13:16
I seem to, you know, I gravitate towards his instruction.
13:22
I learned pretty quickly under him and I've been able to use this stuff
13:26
immediately when he shows me something.
13:28
So yeah, it's been really good.
13:31
Good to have a guy like that in your corner.
13:32
So let's get into the first fight of this season.
13:34
So again, this Friday, your first fight in the welteroid division
13:37
is going to be against a guy named Brett Cooper.
13:39
So don't tell us exactly what you plan to do to him.
13:42
But how do you see that fight?
13:43
How do you break that down?
13:44
What are some things that you can tell us that doesn't give away your entire plan?
13:48
Yeah, I'm just going to go out there and be myself.
13:51
I'll see what openings arise.
13:54
But I feel like I'm better than this guy in every department.
13:59
So I'm confident everywhere.
14:01
If he gives me an opening standing, I'm going to be looking to go for the knockout.
14:07
But if he, you know, over extends themselves and gives me a takedown,
14:10
I'm going to go for that too and finish the fight on top, you know.
14:14
So I'm not putting too much stress in any direction of the fight.
14:18
I'm just going to go out there and look for the finish, you know, right,
14:23
wherever it presents itself.
14:25
So does it feel better for you, Rory, to go into a fight just flowing as opposed to,
14:30
like, I'm going to do this and then this and this, like,
14:32
because some fighters are like, no, no, here's the game plan.
14:34
We're going to stick the game plan.
14:35
And if something goes wrong, we have sub game plans for the game plan.
14:38
But it sounds like you're just going to go in there and flow because of your skill set.
14:41
And you've been doing this for a very, very long time.
14:44
Like, do you just like that better?
14:45
Depends on fighting.
14:46
But generally, I think it's smart to have a plan of action.
14:53
But I feel like when I feel confident enough in every aspect against this opponent,
15:01
you know, I feel like my striking is going to be better.
15:05
But if I go, if I'm in there and I'm not feeling comfortable for whatever reason,
15:10
if he's awkward or I don't like the timing, then, you know, I could switch it up.
15:15
All right, sounds good.
15:15
Well, I'm excited to see how it turns out.
15:17
Obviously, we'll be rooting hard for you, but you're fighting in the PFL now,
15:21
but you have since, you know, and we talked about this a lot on the last podcast.
15:24
A lot of guys that know, you know this for sure that you used to fight in the UFC and Bellator.
15:29
And so those are larger organizations in terms of scale.
15:32
They've been around a little bit longer, but PFL is on ESPN.
15:34
And so maybe you have a little bit of a platform boost there.
15:37
So compare what it's like fighting in the PFL versus the other larger organizations
15:42
like the UFC or Bellator.
15:44
What are the differences?
15:44
What's better?
15:45
What's worse?
15:47
You know, outside of the fighting, it's just more organization, you know, PFL or sorry,
15:54
UFC is a giant machine with deep employees in every department.
16:01
Everyone knows what they're doing.
16:03
It's organized and it's a smooth running machine.
16:08
I find I found going to other organizations, even big name organizations.
16:15
It's a smaller team.
16:17
People are doing multiple jobs, a little bit more confusion, a lot of more running around.
16:25
So you've got to be a little bit more on your toes and, you know,
16:31
got to adjust with certain things outside of the cage with these promotions.
16:36
But as far as the fight goes, it's all pretty similar.
16:41
You know, the back room, locker room, they want their fight footage beforehand as you're
16:47
warming up and, you know, they call you down.
16:50
All that's, all that stuff seems, you know, the same one at the end of it.
16:55
You walk down to a canvas that's surrounded by a cage material, whether it's in a circle
17:01
or in an octagon and you're locked in there against another guy and there's a referee and
17:05
they say go.
17:06
So at the same time, I mean, there's, there's a lot of differences and then that's kind
17:09
of the one major similarity.
17:12
One thing that's also come up when people talk about PFL and one and UFC and Beltor
17:15
and all that is just fighter pay, how that works, the bonus structure and all those things.
17:20
A lot of it came up again when Kayla Harrison decided to stay with the PFL.
17:23
That was surprising to a lot of people.
17:25
I think a lot of things changed the moment Julianna Peña beat the brakes off of Amanda
17:29
Nunez.
17:30
I mean, Kayla Harrison's right there in the front row and then she sees maybe her UFC opportunity
17:34
just disappear, but then she signs with, with PFL and everyone's kind of hating on her like,
17:38
yeah, you're just going over there to win some easy fights and all those types of things.
17:41
So talk to me a little bit about fighter pay because a lot of people are just, they're,
17:46
they're just destroyed when they find out that this guy's making five and five, right?
17:50
So five to show five to win.
17:52
Some guys have better contracts.
17:53
Some people don't, but you've, you've been around the game for a very long time.
17:56
You fought with a lot of different organizations and you've, you've had a lot of different negotiations
18:00
go on.
18:01
So when you're talking about fighter pay, when you're talking like someone like Kayla making
18:04
the move that she did, you know, just kind of walk us through that.
18:07
Yeah, so Kayla situation, um, I have a feeling that she really wanted to go.
18:13
I think it probably came down to contract stuff where PFL probably matched whatever offer
18:20
she got and she was stuck contractually to stay, um, but the money's a lot better at
18:29
PFL than anywhere else.
18:31
So, um, are you talking about just in general or just because of the, the million dollars
18:37
at the end of the rainbow.
18:38
If you win in general, okay, they're, they're willing to pay more.
18:43
You know, you know, they'll, they'll, they'll step up and pay their fighters.
18:48
Um, and I mean, I'm not, I'm not certain for Kayla situation, but I'm, I'm pretty confident
18:54
that it was probably, she was probably stuck with her contracts, uh, you know, I, I'm sure
19:02
she, she wants to go and test herself against them, you know, other, you know, top names
19:07
in the sport.
19:08
Right.
19:09
That's how it goes.
19:10
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Yeah.
19:43
I mean, you can't really hate on her for that.
19:45
I mean, the thing about it is is when her career does come to a close, if she finishes
19:48
her entire career in the PFL, even if she's undefeated, it's going to be really hard to
19:52
put her in the goat conversation just because she didn't have those, those types of fights
19:56
against those big time fighters.
19:58
Same thing, like when Mighty Mouse was still in the UFC and just destroying everybody,
20:01
it's like he wasn't fighting a lot of high caliber dudes and like, and he lost his Sajuto
20:06
and all that.
20:07
And so you have to take all that into account when you're talking about the best ever, but
20:10
then you have seen some MMA fighters either go over into boxing or at least flirt with
20:14
boxing to get these big pay days.
20:17
But there's also MMA fighters going over and losing to YouTube boxers, right?
20:21
You had Tyrone Woodley went over and lost to Jake Paul, like that was an embarrassing thing,
20:25
I guess, for the MMA community because somehow they saw that as the same thing.
20:29
But a lot of these MMA fighters are trying to go get these boxing paychecks.
20:32
Some of them are doing Bear Knuckle.
20:33
So what are your thoughts on MMA fighters who spent your entire life trying to be good at
20:38
a bunch of different things just going over and doing some form of boxing?
20:42
Yeah, it's unfortunate that they have to do that to make, you know, any money nowadays.
20:47
It's, it's really sad to be honest.
20:50
Yeah.
20:51
The, I think our sport is the, you know, most demanding, you know, of any athlete.
20:59
So it sucks that we are still like fighting our way through, you know, this, this whole
21:06
financial stuff, but we're still young and we're, the fighter pay is growing steadily,
21:13
you know, it's out there.
21:15
It's just, you know, it's a long road to get there, you know?
21:20
Yeah.
21:21
You got to be smart.
21:22
You got to be, you got to fight for it.
21:24
You got to have some luck and, you know, hopefully in time that changes where it's not just the
21:32
top five guys or, you know, guys who have made a name for themselves that get paid.
21:37
But, you know, guys who are in these top organizations, you know, in general.
21:43
So for you and for a lot of guys, almost everybody that retires from MMA someday has
21:48
to go and do something else, there's very few people that can just 100%, you know, not
21:52
work ever again for the rest of their life.
21:54
And so for you, I know your retirement is so far down the road.
21:58
It doesn't seem like you're anywhere close to that.
22:00
But have you and your family given any thought to kind of what you would do?
22:03
Cause some people just, you know, they open up a gym and they want to train and they want
22:06
to coach.
22:07
But other guys, they don't want to coach at all.
22:08
Like when they're done with the game, they're done with the game.
22:10
So from your perspective, have you thought about what life would look like after you retired
22:14
down the road?
22:15
I think about a lot of time.
22:17
Okay.
22:18
So what do you even think about?
22:19
What do you kind of like think whenever you're kind of creating that future life for yourself?
22:24
I bounce around all the time.
22:28
Business owner, maybe, you know, property owner, you know, real estate investments, you know,
22:36
things like that.
22:37
I'd like to be able to do all those things that interest me.
22:40
So we'll see, yeah, we'll see what's in store, try to make some moves early on and learn
22:49
as I go.
22:50
Hey, you can get into the crypto game.
22:52
Apparently they're selling NFT real estate, right?
22:54
It's not even real real estate.
22:55
So there's a bunch of crazy stuff you get into, but you got quite a bit of time for you have
22:58
to make a decision on that.
23:00
So one thing that's also very interesting.
23:01
We talked about this a lot in our last interview is you're a very outspoken Christian and you
23:06
haven't always been one.
23:07
And so guys, you know, the old episode will be in the show notes, you can listen to that
23:11
to get more into it.
23:12
But for you, you're a little bit further away from that kind of, not like a breakdown,
23:17
but after you're one of your Belltor fights against John Fitch didn't really go that
23:20
well, even though you won and, you know, you kind of said some things out loud that made
23:24
people think that you were going to be retiring.
23:26
But for you as a Christian, give me an idea as of right now, how is your walk whenever
23:32
you're in the middle of doing all these trainings and you're in the middle of trying to like,
23:36
you know, overcome last, the disappointing season last season, because I know your Christian
23:40
faith is a huge part of who you are still kind of give me an idea of how that all is
23:43
progressing because in relative terms, you're still a new Christian.
23:46
Yeah, absolutely.
23:47
I feel like my faith is stronger as far as my whole career goes.
23:54
I think for a couple of while a few years there, I was unsure about how I felt with being
24:02
a Christian, a new, you know, new father, husband, you know, family guy, and then, you
24:12
know, fighting what I've done all my life.
24:14
It was just all a big mix all of a sudden, you know, and becoming a Christian too.
24:20
I'm just coming to terms with all of that, but I feel like I've found my place in all
24:28
of it and I feel very blessed to have a career that I love to do and I have a skill and a
24:37
passion for, I feel like that's from the Lord and he's given me every opportunity to achieve
24:46
my dreams.
24:47
You know, it's just a matter of me being an obedient, you know, believer and in sticking
24:57
with God in every circumstance and leaning on him as my rock, you know.
25:02
So that's a lesson that I think the Lord's been trying to teach me for some time.
25:08
And I think, I think once I get that, that part of it down, I'll be set up for some good
25:16
success, you know, is that's where I feel in my heart anyway.
25:20
One, you've gotten into a good group because I can imagine those are a lot of life changes
25:24
all at once while doing one of the most difficult jobs on the planet.
25:27
Again, it's probably better for you than being in a cubicle, working a typical like eight
25:31
to five job with no vacation and a one hour lunch break.
25:33
I'm sure you'd rather be, you know, getting punched in the face on two o'clock on a Tuesday
25:37
afternoon, but it's just a little bit different once you do get in that groove with your family,
25:42
with your coaches and everything else like that.
25:44
One thing I did want to ask you as well, Rory, is there's one thing from your last interview
25:49
on the show that I'm asked about almost constantly, like anyone that talks to me about the interview
25:53
that I did with you, they always talk about this because in that interview, we talked
25:57
a lot about the July 11 2015 fight at UFC 189 that you had against Robbie Lawler.
26:02
So that was a rematch with him.
26:04
Top three best fight ever, in my opinion, best welterweight fight of all time that I've
26:08
ever seen in my opinion, but then toward the end, so we spent a lot of time talking about
26:12
that fight and kind of what was going on and, you know, the stare down after the fourth
26:15
round, all that stuff.
26:16
So go listen to that.
26:17
You can check it out.
26:18
But at the end of the interview, I asked you a bunch of random MMA related questions and
26:22
one of them was this fantasy matchup.
26:25
If you can have a fight against anyone in MMA history in their prime, who would it be
26:29
and why?
26:30
And I'm thinking you're going to say, you know, maybe horse Gracie, maybe you're going
26:33
to say my hues, you know, something like that.
26:35
And you answered almost before I even stopped the question, Robbie Lawler, you wanted Robbie
26:41
Lawler for a third time.
26:43
And I asked you and you said, you were basically saying you got to know that you can beat that
26:47
guy.
26:48
You got to know that you can beat that guy on his best day.
26:50
And I was just, I remember like being almost getting chills, hearing that answer because
26:54
it was such a competitive answer and you're, you're just sitting there in a studio or sitting
26:58
there in your, in your room talking to me.
27:00
So many people have talked to me about that.
27:02
So I want to kind of revisit that a little bit.
27:04
Do you still feel that way?
27:06
If you could fight anybody in the history of MMA, you're, you're in your prime, they're
27:10
in their prime.
27:11
Is it still Robbie Lawler?
27:12
Yeah, I am.
27:13
And, you know, I, I fought Douglas Lima a couple of times and they were close fights.
27:18
Well, not the last one, but he beat me once.
27:22
I beat him.
27:23
I'd like to fight Ray.
27:25
You know, there's some losses where I feel like, you know, I'd like to have the final
27:30
say in that map, you know, Robbie's an interesting one because I fought him the first time.
27:39
I felt like I did enough to win.
27:42
It was still very close.
27:45
And then that, that second fight was just, just like a wild, wild fight.
27:51
So yeah, it probably would be Robbie just because of the, I know the kind of character
27:56
he is.
27:57
I'd say he's my biggest challenge at, at his best.
28:02
He's just a different breed and never fought anybody like him.
28:06
He's one, you get to know someone very personal when you, when you're fighting them.
28:12
And especially when you fight them multiple times.
28:14
You start to get a real sense of, you know, their inner, inner animal.
28:21
And there's no one like Robbie Lawler I've ever fought.
28:24
So he's, he's very unique in that way.
28:27
So you say he's kind of a different breed, very unique, like in, in what way?
28:30
Because I ran down the list of people that you fought in your career.
28:33
You fought so many people that people would know, and these are bad dudes.
28:38
They have these, you know, reputations for being the baddest dudes in the gym and like
28:41
a bad student, the octagon or whatever, what is different about Robbie Lawler?
28:46
There's probably a lot I could say about that.
28:51
It's his mindset, I'm sure, but you know, I'm pretty sure that guy would, would fight
28:58
to, to his death, you know, he, there's no quit in that guy.
29:05
But I'll try to put it in, I'll give you an example.
29:08
Okay.
29:09
Like, the first fight I had with them, I was on top of them.
29:13
I'm not even sure at what point this fight, at what point it was in the fight.
29:19
But I, I got on top of them and I was in like half guard or something.
29:22
And I was like, I'll go in them in the head and ground it down and like deep, good shots
29:27
that people would cover up to.
29:30
And he, he started like hysterically laughing, like, like as if like he, like a psychopath,
29:37
you know, like a psycho, like a psych ward patient or something.
29:42
And that really like messes with my head, like during the fight.
29:46
You can imagine, yeah.
29:48
Yeah.
29:49
Because it wasn't like a fake laugh, like he was forcing it, like it was like, he was
29:53
laughing at me.
29:55
And I, I'd never forget that I thought that was just extremely unique.
30:01
I've never had that happen to me before or after or even in training.
30:07
Most people don't react like that.
30:09
They're usually on the defensive and like have more of a defeated kind of like urgency
30:18
about them.
30:19
And he did not have the energy at all.
30:21
He was enjoying it the moment and like he, there was no anxiety on his behalf.
30:28
So when you're in, in a cage fight, if for anyone who has never done that competitively,
30:33
there's a lot of.
30:35
It's almost everybody.
30:36
Okay.
30:37
Well, there's, there's a, there's a lot of pressure, the lights and the fans add a very
30:46
strange element of like pressure and, you know, cameras, you know, the, you know, it's your
30:55
career.
30:56
There's just a weird pressure that it's not like a street fight.
31:00
And there's anxiety when you get into those positions, especially later in the fight or
31:06
if you're tired and you start playing mental games.
31:12
And a lot of people when you have them in those positions that you can break them.
31:17
So when he reacted like that, it's, that's pretty special.
31:22
Okay.
31:23
Well, I'm glad you went into a little bit more detail.
31:25
I do not remember that from the first fight, but I am automatically going to go back and
31:28
rewatch that to see if I can find that time whenever I don't know if you can be able to
31:32
see it, like, because he's probably trying to block the shots at the same time.
31:37
Right.
31:38
I don't know.
31:39
I, I never looked, went back to like see if I could see him laughing, but I, I, it's
31:44
clear as day.
31:45
Like I, I remember that and just like his whole vibe and everything.
31:48
It's, yeah.
31:49
Well, obviously that's a dream matchup for you.
31:52
But as I was thinking through this interview, because as I'll send you random crap, I'll
31:56
text it to you.
31:57
But like, I was like, I want to get your opinion on some dream MMA matchups that will never
32:02
happen.
32:03
Because either people are out of their primes or retired or something like that.
32:05
So I'm going to throw out some prime dream MMA matchups for you.
32:09
And I want you to tell me who you think is going to win and why.
32:11
And then I'll kind of throw it out there as well.
32:12
So we'll kind of compare notes a little bit.
32:14
So the first one is a fight that's actually happened, but one guy was in his prime and
32:18
one was not.
32:19
So who do you think wins in a fight between prime Israel, out of Sonia and prime Anderson
32:24
Silva?
32:25
Um, probably Israel.
32:28
Okay.
32:29
So why do you think is he?
32:31
I don't know.
32:32
He's just, uh, yeah, I like his, uh, I like his, uh, his style.
32:41
He's good.
32:42
Yeah.
32:43
As much as I don't like the guy, I'd probably have to say prime Anderson Silva because his
32:46
championship run whenever he was in the types of guys he was finishing was outstanding.
32:50
And out of Sonia, I feel like he either has an incredible performance or a really, really
32:54
boring performance and not really anything in between.
32:56
Uh, we'll go to the next one here.
32:58
Um, Fedor versus prime steep a meochich.
33:02
Um, I'd probably go with steep a, okay.
33:07
I would too.
33:08
But why?
33:09
Because Fedor is kind of like this guy that everybody talks about, like, Oh, this is
33:12
the greatest heavyweight ever.
33:14
No, I just, I feel like it's hard to go back in time and, and cause I feel like so many
33:20
improvements have been made even in the last like, you know, five or 10 years.
33:26
So these guys skill set, I feel like it's just better.
33:30
There's so much more added in their toolbox like even going back to Anderson and, uh, Israel,
33:37
like Anderson's had some boring fights too, by the way.
33:42
Absolutely.
33:43
Yeah.
33:44
I didn't mean to let him completely off the hook.
33:45
But during his little run, it was insane.
33:46
Yeah.
33:47
I don't know.
33:48
I just feel like because of these guys, they, they, these, you know, Fedor and Anderson,
33:55
these guys are great champions.
33:57
They laid a certain foundation that these younger generation were able to watch and
34:02
digest it and, and develop and, uh, you know, just get more, add more tools and that, you
34:11
know, mixed martial arts is still so young, it's still evolving and developing.
34:15
So I feel like these new champions that come in, feel like they are just better.
34:20
Yeah.
34:21
They're definitely different.
34:22
All right.
34:25
I had a million of these, but I'll ask you two more prime George St. Pierre versus prime
34:28
Kamara Usman.
34:29
Yeah.
34:30
I still think that George would probably win.
34:34
Yeah.
34:35
George is like, I, I know that a lot of people would think that's bias, but I, I really do
34:42
think he's that good.
34:44
Um, and he was, he was someone who was, uh, before his time, like he was super great.
34:50
I think he could probably.
34:51
If he put his mind to it and it's hard in duty, he would probably come back and be champion
34:55
now.
34:56
He's, he's that kind of character.
34:58
He is a different breed.
34:59
I, I still think he's the greatest of all time.
35:01
He's not brought up enough, in my opinion, in the greatest of all time thing, because
35:04
I like how Kamara Usman won three or four title fights in a row and all of a sudden he's
35:08
being compared to GSP.
35:09
It's like GSP one nine title fights in a row.
35:12
Excuse me.
35:13
Like, can we just wait a second?
35:14
Two of those title fights for Kamara were against Jorge Mazvidal, who is not a championship
35:18
caliber fighter.
35:19
But anyway, we're not going to get into the debate here.
35:21
Here's my last one.
35:22
Dream matchup.
35:23
Okay.
35:24
Prime Matt Hughes versus prime Rory McDonald.
35:28
Oh, well, the reason why I asked that, it goes to something you already said, Matt Hughes
35:35
was untouchable for a time period until GSP came in and, you know, won their second fight
35:40
or whatever.
35:41
But y'all do seem like different animals.
35:43
He was the consensus best welterweight on the planet at the time and now could he even
35:47
compete?
35:48
No, not even, I don't think so.
35:51
He just didn't have enough, didn't have enough tools that like every, like top 10 guys now
35:57
have to have.
35:58
Well, let's talk about that a little bit because I was going to ask you this a little bit later.
36:02
You know, his heart and, you know, his, you know, grit and, you know, obviously his wrestling
36:07
and everything is legit too sick.
36:10
Like, I don't mean disrespecting anyway because that guy is a legend more so than I, you know,
36:16
I've ever made my, like, my career.
36:19
So I have nothing to say disrespectful towards.
36:23
I just don't think that generation is at the level that today's is, you know, right.
36:30
That's very diplomatic of you, but you know, you, so you won't get in trouble on the internet
36:33
for that answer.
36:34
But that's one thing that I've thought about as well.
36:37
Yeah.
36:38
One thing I've thought about as well is a guy like Hoi's Gracie.
36:41
So Hoi's is considered by Sony to be the greatest of all time because he was kind of,
36:43
he was the first champion, you know, he kind of helped introduce jujitsu to everybody,
36:47
at least on the main stage with the UFC.
36:49
But would the Hoi's Gracie of that early part of UFC even win a fight at 170 in the UFC today?
36:58
Because like every guy in the top 15 has jujitsu.
37:01
I mean, they don't have Gracie black belt jujitsu, but they've got jujitsu, but then
37:06
they've got wrestling and striking and all these other things.
37:08
Would it, would a guy with that skill set back in that day be able to compete right now?
37:12
No, no, not at all.
37:15
So what's going on in the field, you know, there's just too many tools now.
37:22
Guys are just too, they're too dynamic, you know, you have to respect those guys that
37:31
laid the foundation for our sport and like had the most hardcore rules, which was barely
37:36
any and or no pay, they went out there and they're true like martial art warriors.
37:44
So I'm not throwing shade at them.
37:46
I have nothing but respect.
37:47
I'm just saying because of them, people took what worked and then, you know, developed
37:55
it into what modern day mixed martial arts is today.
38:00
And people are going to continue to do that for the years to come until the growth becomes
38:05
a little bit slower and slower, but MMA is young and it has evolved a lot since then.
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38:42
Yeah, it's the same in every sport.
38:45
I mean, you'll hear people say, oh, you know, Babe Ruth played baseball today.
38:48
He would strike out every time.
38:49
It's like, well, maybe, but it's like at his time he was doing stuff that had never been
38:52
seen before.
38:53
And that's the thing right now is you're exactly right.
38:55
There are some names out there right now in MMA to where it's like, it's astonishing the
38:59
stuff that they're able to do and it looks like nothing we've seen before.
39:02
But it's the caliber of athlete and also the skill set is going through the roof.
39:07
Whereas 15 years ago, there weren't many full time teams around the United States that you
39:12
could like literally move and live in a place and train with a bunch of like minded guys,
39:16
whereas that's seemingly everywhere now.
39:18
And you have a lot of this exclusive style of training in Rory.
39:21
I know we're running short on time here, but I did want to ask a couple more questions.
39:26
I wanted to get your, your viewpoint on the Kane Velasquez situation.
39:29
So I'm going to be talking about this on a future podcast, or maybe I will have already
39:33
talked about it by the time this comes out.
39:35
But obviously he was arrested for attempted murder.
39:38
He chased a guy down that apparently or allegedly had sexually assaulted his daughter.
39:44
We keep hearing a family member, but I'm pretty sure it was his daughter.
39:48
He chased this guy for for miles and miles and miles in the car, runs the car off the
39:52
road, shoots into the vehicle, doesn't even hit the alleged perpetrator.
39:56
It hits a different guy in the car, the stepfather or something like that.
39:59
The MMA community is coming out in big time support of Kane Velasquez.
40:04
And I understand that they respect the guy a lot, but it seems odd to me because of what
40:09
he did could have killed way more people than just the guy that he was looking to kill.
40:15
Right?
40:16
And that's, that's absolutely what he intended to do.
40:18
So you're the first person that, you know, is actually an MMA fighter that I've talked
40:21
to about this.
40:22
So when you heard about the Kane Velasquez situation, now that we're a couple of months
40:25
down the road, how do you feel about all that and how everybody's seemingly supporting?
40:29
Yeah.
40:30
So outside of anything, MMA related, I mean, just looking at, you know, the human being
40:37
story behind it, you know, I try to put myself in those shoes as a [inaudible] and I get it completely.
40:46
I think the legal system is completely screwed up. Kane should not be in that situation.
40:53
That guy should have never walked out of that prison cell.
40:56
Right.
40:57
And it's just pathetic that there, those kinds of people are able to walk free, disgusting.
41:04
And he took justice into his own hands.
41:08
And I'm sure if I was in that situation, the rage and like you, the emotion would be so
41:18
hard to control, you know, to do it in a different way that wouldn't put him in that situation
41:27
that where he is now.
41:30
But I'm sure he was overcome with emotion and, and he probably, you know, he just felt like
41:37
that was his moment to get his justice, you know.
41:40
And if he got that justice, it was, it was probably just a serve, you know.
41:46
Some fortunate that, you know, another guy got hit, but at the same time, he's, he's,
41:54
you know, he's, he's given a ride to, you know, a guy who is touching kids, or I don't
42:02
know what he was doing, but he wasn't doing something very, he wasn't doing the right thing.
42:07
I know I would be given a ride home to a pedophile, you know, I let him, I let him stay there
42:14
outside the jail, you know, where he's along.
42:19
Yeah.
42:20
I feel horrible, but the situation, I think, I think it's just terrible.
42:24
There's no justice there.
42:26
It's just back so backwards.
42:28
It's so sad to see a family man like that, and a family destroyed over like a monster,
42:37
you know, who didn't get his justice.
42:40
Right.
42:41
There, there are a lot of things to kind of refer to on that.
42:43
The one thing that I think is not really getting much consideration and play from a lot of
42:47
people is that little girl needs her dad right now more than ever.
42:53
And his, because of the decisions that he made, he maybe isn't going to be able to be there
42:58
for her for a very, very long time.
43:00
And I hate that for Cain's family.
43:03
I hate, I hate that that decision was made.
43:05
But again, this isn't a podcast about Cain Velasquez.
43:07
I was just curious because you got people either being completely mum about the situation
43:11
or, you know, big hashtag free cane kind of a deal.
43:14
But Rory, last question of the day, for you, obviously you're not only an MMA fighter,
43:18
you're an MMA fan, but you have a different way of looking at fights because you're looking
43:22
at it with a very trained and unique eye.
43:25
I'm curious from you.
43:26
There are certain fighters right now that, you know, seem to kind of burst on the scene.
43:30
But then when you talk to people behind the scenes, they're like, no, we knew hums out
43:33
to Maya was going to be a thing.
43:34
And he fights tonight.
43:35
So he may actually lose and I sound like an idiot, but these people just like explode
43:38
on the scene.
43:39
And then everyone's surprised, but not people that are in the know.
43:42
Are there fighters right now?
43:43
And it doesn't matter the organization, PFL, Bellator, UFC one or any 80 side shows or
43:48
whatever that you feel like is especially talented that within the next three, four years or
43:54
so, this is going to be kind of a household name, at least in the MMA community.
43:59
It's hard to say there's guys in the gym that are just, you know, on a different level.
44:06
And then some of it, and they just can't, they don't compete the same way.
44:10
So it's hard to say exactly comes as a special individual who, you know, he looks like an
44:19
animal in the gym and he brings it in a fight too.
44:23
And he's got a big reputation for guys to train with him.
44:26
So it's exciting.
44:27
Yeah, I'm excited to see how that fight goes.
44:30
And again, guys, just give you the timing.
44:32
This is before the latest UFC where he's set to fight Gilbert Burns.
44:35
And the thing about this guy is he's seemingly a beep neuromagomed off, but he talks trash.
44:40
And so for the UFC, it's like, you know, he's a big guy.
44:43
He's got a crazy look like he's got the crazy accent.
44:46
He talks trash to where I was like, you know, he didn't really do that.
44:50
He couldn't really capture the imagination of a lot of people because he's a smaller guy.
44:54
He doesn't really say much and, you know, he just goes out there and I'm going to smash.
44:58
But Hamzat, I mean, this, this could be the next rocket ship that the UFC has.
45:01
So it'd be interesting to see how that goes, but dude, we're out of time.
45:04
I really appreciate everything that you let us get into on this.
45:07
I'm so excited for your training camp and for all the changes you've made and for your
45:10
upcoming fight.
45:11
Obviously, we wish you the best of luck, but that's all for me.
45:13
Is there anything else you want to get off your chest?
45:15
No, just check out my fight, May 6.
45:18
I'm going out there for the finish, so it's going to be a good job.
45:21
All right.
45:22
Rory McDonald, thank you for coming back on a Daunted Life of Man's podcast.
45:25
Yeah.
45:26
My pleasure.
45:27
Thanks for having me.
45:28
There you go, guys.
45:29
I hope you enjoyed the return appearance of Rory McDonald on the show.
45:31
But before we let you go, we are going to do a quick resilience boost.
45:33
On a Daunted Life, our mission is equipping men to push back darkness with content that
45:37
for just spiritual, mental, and physical resilience.
45:39
So here are the links I've got for you today.
45:41
I got a link to Rory McDonald's Instagram account, and then I've also got a link to his first
45:44
appearance on this show.
45:45
That was episode 131.
45:46
All right, guys.
45:47
Thanks so much for listening to the show.
45:48
We do appreciate it.
45:49
Wherever you're listening to this, please subscribe, rate, and leave us a positive five
45:52
star view.
45:53
If you want to come speak live at your event or on your podcast, shoot me an email to info
45:57
at undaunted.life.
45:58
That's I N F O at Undaunted Life.
46:01
You can follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook and check out our website.
46:03
That's all for everything else, including how to donate to keep more content like this
46:06
coming your way.
46:07
Just go to www.undaunted.life and we want to also thank the band, August Burns Red, for
46:11
allowing us to use their music for our content.
46:14
The music on this podcast is our song, Cutting the Tides, which is off their 10th anniversary
46:18
re-recording of their album, Leveler.
46:20
The links are in the description.
46:21
I'm your host, Kyle Thompson.
46:23
Remember, keep pushing back darkness, keep forging spiritual, mental, and physical resilience.
46:30
You're seeking the lion of Judah.
47:00
[music]