MacDonald on MMA: Pure motivation

Nothing’s official until the UFC announces it, but I signed my contract to fight Ryan Jensen at UFC 129 in Toronto on April 30 and I’m pumped about it.

I know I said I’d like to travel and not necessarily be part of the Toronto card, but now that it’s sunk in that I’ll be fighting on the biggest card in UFC history, it’s pretty cool. And with all the Canadians, it will be like fighting with a bunch of friends.

There’s lots of great matchups slated for that night. I read on some message boards where people were complaining there were too many Canadian fighters.

I don’t get it. There’s a lot of good talent there. What more would you want for a Canadian card?

It’s the first show in Ontario. It makes sense to me to fill it with the best Canadian fighters. Why would you fill it with European, American and Japanese fighters?

But that being said, the Vancouver card is just a little over a month after that and it doesn’t leave a whole lot of Canadian fighters left. I guess they’re hoping I come out unscathed and can fight on a quick turnaround in Vancouver!

But seriously, you know me, I like fighting back-to-back. That’s always been good for me. So if that could happen that would be great.

Jensen is a really good matchup for me. He actually wasn’t really on my radar. When my manager told me who I’d like to fight, we kicked around a couple of names, and one of them was Court McGee. Needless to say when they gave me Jensen, I was obviously happy. That’s someone that McGee just beat.

He’s fought some great fighters, but he’s susceptible to some submissions, and that plays into my game. I’ve always matched up well against wrestlers.

This is good opportunity for me to get back on my feet, so to speak, after an ankle injury.

I think this card is going to be huge. There will be a lot of media, and a lot of excitement as we get closer, which also means it should be a good chance to get some good sponsors.

Finding out about this fight really motivated me to get going and training. So I was planning to travel down to Calgary to train with Josh Russell. But man we’ve just gotten hammered with winter weather the past week and a half, and it’s been extremely cold and miserable and snowing every day.

So I really haven’t strayed too far. Meanwhile, Josh came here to meet with his accountants and got snowed in, so he’s been stuck here, which worked out well for me!

Good thing I’ve got an 11-year-old and a 9-year-old who are spoiled because I get free shoveling service! I truly despise shoveling. If someone said I could shovel my driveway or run 10 kilometres, I’d say, “Toss me my runners.”

April 30 gives me plenty of time to prepare. So far, so good — my ankle’s been doing well. And my weight’s good. I’ve been getting fit since my ankle recovered and have already brought my weight down to well within my good range.

I may be even be a little light at this going. I should probably start eating generously again.

This week’s big announcement was of Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos being named as coaches of the upcoming welterweight season of The Ultimate Fighter. It seems odd that they’re the coaches for the welterweights — you would think you’d have heavyweight guys training heavyweight contestants. Seems illogical because things are very different with bigger guys. Things that work for a 300-pounder won’t work for 170-pounder.

I know they don’t always match up the weights of the coaches and the fighters, but a 170-pounder coaching a 155-pounder is a little more reasonable. GSP was able to train and spar with lightweights no problem, but I know I wouldn’t want to be the guy who’s being used by Lesnar for demos or always doing rounds with him. Sounds like a recipe for injury to me.

And then there are people asking if Brock is qualified. He’s a national champion wrestler. Do you really need to ask that question? And he’s going to bring in a supporting cast of coaches to help out. To me, it’s not an issue.

My only concern is on the other end with Dos Santos and his ability to speak English. Will he be able to communicate well with his fighters? He comes from the Nogueira camp, so he’s going to bring in a great staff of coaches.

The bottom line is Lesnar’s personality will make for good ratings.