The Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia hosted the UFC’s Fight Night 54 event this past Saturday, headlined by a welterweight fight between Rory MacDonald and Tarec Saffiedine. MacDonald has been a long time resident of the division’s Top 5, but his name has never been more likely to be called ‘next; for a title shot than after this win.
Saffiedine was riding a solid five fight winning streak, but MacDonald was a step up fight for the Belgian fighter, who now goes back to a crowded queue at welterweight. Against MacDonald, he was unable to mount much offense, instead he ate a steady stream of offense from MacDonald, who impressively turned it up as the fight went on. Whereas he has shown a tendency to go the distance lately, he MacDonald finished the job against Saffiedine.
The big thing holding MacDonald back from a title shot a few years back was that his friend and mentor Georges St Pierre held the belt, and MacDonald was steadfast in his stance that he would not fight GSP. Now with the belt in the hands of Johny Hendricks, MacDonald’s name should come up pretty fast.
With Hendricks set to defend his title against Robbie Lawler on December 6th, MacDonald will likely sit and wait fo the outcome of that fight to be decided. The truth is, barring Hendricks losing the belt to Lawler in an absolutely memorable fight, Hendricks has not done anything to warrant an immediate re-match if he loses the title. MacDonald and Lawler have locked horns before and it was decided by split decision with Lawler winning, and MacDonald would likely welcome a re-match where he could even up that score and wind up with the belt. Should Hendricks retain his title, a MacDonald vs Hendricks match will almost certainly be the first title defense of 2015.
Against either man, MacDonald will likely come in as an underdog, as Lawler has a win over him already and Hendricks would be making his second title defense of a belt that Lawler has made him thoroughly earn, so he too would likely open a slight favorite to MacDonald. MacDonald is 25 years old now, and he has carried the label of ‘Champion in waiting’ for years now. For macDonald there really is no reason to wait anymore, the time is now.
Here is the UFC’s preview of this past weekend’s main event, for your review:
