MacDonald on MMA: Christmas submissions
Posted December 24, 2011 11:36 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Well Alistair Overeem passed his drug test this week so we have a main event next weekend. I’m excited to see Overeem and how he does against the UFC guys. I’m predicting him to make short work of Brock Lesnar. (But of course I’ve been wrong many times!)
I find it funny that people look at a guy who has big muscles and is really fit and just assume he’s on steroids. It’s a bad misconception that society has built up. I especially hear that from people who aren’t fit, and don’t train or don’t do martial arts; they think, if you’re fit, it’s because you’re on steroids, it’s not because you work your ass off. I’m glad that this passed drug test silences those critics.
I think it’s going to be good main event at UFC 141. I don’t think it will be a long one, but it will be exciting for a short amount of time. Brock’s coaches are saying they’ve never seen him look better and that he’s healthy and he’s reaching his full potential. I know every fighter says that going into a fight, but hopefully we’ll see the best Lesnar he can be on Dec. 30.
Last weekend I taught a CrossFit seminar in Montreal as part of an internship I’m doing to become a level 1 CrossFit instructor. I’m scheduled to be in San Jose on Jan. 14-15 for another one, where again I’ll be evaluated by one of the CrossFit headquarters staff members. If I achieve it, I could then travel around the globe teaching.
It’s an interesting role for me. I’ve been a CrossFit affiliated gym owner for four years now but I’m enjoying and am excited about this new opportunity. But it’s been challenging; it’s been quite a while since I’ve been in a position where I’m being evaluated.
It’s almost like a job interview. I had to do a lot of studying, practicing on how I deliver the material and demonstrate the movements. It’s keeping me busy, and hopefully it will turn into a good job that will allow me travel, teach and make an income while I wait for my next fight in the UFC.
I’ve been saying for a while that there are fighters in the UFC who are kind of holding on in their careers, and now they’re finally starting to come out of the woodwork and admit they’re near the end. Forrest Griffin said he only has about two fights left, Tito Ortiz one more. I’ve said all along that I only have a couple fights left before I call it quits.
I recently signed a new four-fight deal with the UFC, but I haven’t yet been offered a date or opponent. If and when they offer me one, it would have to be something really, really appealing, especially where I’ll be able to travel somewhere new. For example, Brazil or Australia, or I hear rumblings of a possible Alberta card in the spring or summer. Those are the type of things that get me excited about fighting now. I would make a trip out of it, stay an extra week and make it a life experience. It’s pretty hard to pass up an opportunity like that.
This week Jason (Mayhem) Miller came out and said that his fight against Michael Bisping wasn’t “UFC calibre.” I think we all basically thought that, but now he’s admitting it. I still don’t understand the matchup in the first place. Miller wasn’t even a contender when he came over from Strikeforce and then he gets a fight with a top contender in Bisping. I understand it from a reality TV point of view, because he’s entertaining and they had that heated rivalry. But I didn’t get it from a fight point of view. I know they’ve always wanted to build Bisping up and I guess they thought they’d give him an easy fight and it was.
I also saw the UFC confirmed Rory MacDonald’s fight against Che Mills in Montreal. This is almost a Bisping-type thing. They want MacDonald to succeed; he’s the possible future of the division because there will be a point when GSP will retire and I think Rory can be the one to take his place atop the welterweight ranks.
Even moreso now in the absence of Georges and him being out potentially for a year now, they need build up Rory for the Canadian market. So instead of a contender fight, here he’s given one he should easily win, and in his “hometown” of Montreal. (I know Rory wasn’t born in Montreal but that’s where he lives and trains now).
The UFC does that sometimes, and when you’re a fighter in that position, you appreciate it. I was thrown a bone in my career a couple of times and I was appreciative of that. I don’t want to insult anybody so I won’t say which fights I thought were given to me that basically were meant to help me in my career, but I feel I’ve been given “gift fights” like that along the line.
Speaking of gifts, Christmas is upon us, so I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and thanks for the support (both positive and negative) from my readers, friends, family and all the staff that makes things happen.
A Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
