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Dana White: Rory MacDonald Blew His Chance to Become a Contender at UFC on Fox 8

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#1 ·

When the co-main event fight between Rory MacDonald and Jake Ellenberger ended on Saturday night, the two competitors were drowned in a chorus of boos from the crowd in attendance after a fairly lackluster 15-minute bout.

Heading into UFC on Fox 8, MacDonald vs. Ellenberger was regarded as a fight that could steal the show as the real main event after the two welterweights sparred on Twitter and in interviews, not to mention the fact that they were both ranked in the top five of their division.

What resulted was a far cry from an instant classic, as MacDonald essentially jabbed Ellenberger repeatedly over three rounds to earn a unanimous decision.

Following the fight, MacDonald was praised by several reporters for a technically brilliant masterpiece—both on site in Seattle and on Twitter—while fans and other journalists panned the fight as a boring affair that few would want to watch again.

UFC president Dana White fell into the latter category. After having such high expectations about the fight going into the show, he was sorely disappointed when it was over.

White points to Ellenberger for part of the blame because he failed to engage at almost every moment in the fight, but he also turned his ire toward MacDonald because he refused to take advantage of the situation.

"Ellenberger did nothing. Ellenberger did nothing and he's told you, you don't belong in the top 10. (MacDonald) went out and bullied B.J. (Penn) because he knew he could. He didn't try to bully Ellenberger. Don't come in and say 'oh my fight was great, it was technical and this and that and I belong in the top 10,' and talk all this s*** and don't go in there and try to perform," White said when speaking to reporters after UFC on Fox 8 ended. "I don't think he did anything. He threw a few jabs and some front kicks."

White says the fight with Ellenberger was MacDonald's chance to separate himself from the crowd at 170 pounds—his chance to define his standing as a contender in the division.

It's widely known that MacDonald trains at the same gym as UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, and the two have said on numerous occasions that they would never fight each other. White believes it's all just posturing until MacDonald reaches the point where he stands alone as the No. 1 contender, and he had a chance to do that on Saturday night and failed.
"That kid's in a tough enough position as it is—he lives in Georges St-Pierre's house, he trains in Georges St-Pierre's hometown, and everything's Georges St-Pierre this and Georges St-Pierre that, and the kid has to walk around and say he doesn’t want to fight Georges St-Pierre," White said about MacDonald.

"We all f***ing know he wants to fight Georges St-Pierre, but why would he go out beating his chest that he wants to fight Georges St-Pierre when that fight isn't even close to happening yet," White continued.

"Tonight was a night, an important night, that everybody was excited for. Yes, I understand sometimes you know you're fighting somebody dangerous, but f***ing Ellenberger just sat there. Ellenberger sat two feet away from me and said 'that wasn't me tonight, I wasn't myself.' So if you're Rory and you're that f***ing good and you're that talented, then you impose your will on him and you show the rest of the world not only do I belong in the top five, I should be fighting Georges St-Pierre."

White says the fight won't do long-term damage to MacDonald's career so long as he doesn't duplicate it again in his next trip to the Octagon, but his performance didn't do him any favors, either.

"I don't think he moves down the ladder, but do you think anybody's screaming to see him in a f***ing fight again?" White asked. "We live in a business, unfortunately, that you're as good as your last fight.

"Rory's one of the best in the world. He didn't look it tonight."
Bleacherreport

What's this sh*t Dana is on right now? Rory has said several times that he doesn't want a shot at GSP yet Dana is acting like it never happened.
 
#15 ·
This or there is a chance that Rory moves to 185 in the future....hes a fairly big WW to begin with and at 24 could fill out that big frame quite easily.

Funny what GSP can get by with due to his charisma and following. Rory tries it and gets chastised by Dana.

It can be equally argued that if GSP is such a top fighter why isn't he putting anyone away?

Dana disparity ftw....
GSP constantly sells 700,000 + PPV's....DW dont give a flying f*ck if he's doing cartwheels in there aslong as he continues with those numbers.
 
#9 ·
Exactly... Neither is going to want to ko the other, Gsp will get him down attempt transitions, rory will be working the butterfly guard and we may see a sub, not the PPV Dana is thinking of, atleast Jones and Evans talked smack.

GSP vs Rory would have no build up, these guys are actually friends and team mates, not two ego maniacs who are jealous of each other like two guys competing for the same girl at a bar.
 
#6 ·
Ellenberger would have knocked him out if he tried to actually exchange with him. We saw that Rory had worse wrestling and power so that was his way to win. Rory didn't win by being more technical that is nonsense he squeaked by with not engaging and Ellenberger being too worried about gassing to spend the amount of energy it would take to constantly chase him and fight inside.

Dana giving bad advice to fighters again. Rory isn't some destroyer like Bones he needs to fight smart if he wants to beat the dangerous fighters at the top of WW.
 
#11 ·
Oh man a rematch against Condit would be sublime! Condit is bad ass. He should have just taken it against Nick. It was GJ's doing for that match up. Condit took Hendricks best shot and kept on ticking. That fight should have been a five rounder.
 
#14 ·
I'm not so upset with Rory as I am with Jake. Rory trains alongside GSP at Tristar under Firas Zahabi. It comes as no surpise to me that he would be willing to play the jab game and keep his distance while continueing to keep that pace so long as his opponent isn't doing anything to make him fight a different fight. Rory played it safe and smart. Could he have done a little more to take advantage of Jakes gun shyness? Perhaps. But he did what was necessary in ensuring the victory. Yes that style of fighting is easy to hate, and I have much more respect for guys like Mighty Mouse, who went ahead and finished the fight when he was CLEARLY ahead on the score cards. But the way Rory fought was the most intellegent way to fight someone like Jake. Hate Rory all you want, but you have to respect the skill and discipline it takes to be able to do that, whether it's exciting or not.

Jakes approach was what upset me the most. All the things and trash talk and "How Rory didn't deserve that ranking" that he talked, and he goes out there and doesn't try to take it to him. Throwing a couple of haymakers, landing a takedown with a minute left in the third round is really not enough to try and take control of the complexion of a fight IMO. I'm gonna be honest, I expect a more exciting fight. I expected to see that if Rory was going to play the jab game, Jake was going to get in his face, give him no room to breath, and try to either impose his will wrestling wise, or try to finish. I'm not sure what he's afraid of. It's not like Rory's known for having huge power. While he did come out with more steam in the third round, he should've done that earlier in the fight as soon as he saw things weren't going his way.

I had a gut feeling that Jake underestimating of Rory would probably come back to haunt him.
 
#18 ·
Depends which Condit shows up, the Diaz fight, Gsp fight or Hendricks fight,

Rory isn't going to chase him around the cage and get out-pointed by leg kicks and "spinning shit"

Rory isn't going to gas... This fight needs to finally happen and hopefully Condit beats Kampmann so we can see it on Ufc 167.

Rory is a composed fighter and am glad the Condit fight got delayed from 158, Rory was emotional after the Bj fight and likely would have carried that emotion into 158, he just faced a guy who was disrespectful and got shut down/broken by a great jab and gameplan
 
#20 ·
Rory didn't look bad, but I think after Kampann Vs. Condit, the winner should fight him next. I honestly think Carlos would hurt him worse in the rematch and finish, although this depends how his wrestling training is going.
 
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