{"id":192816,"date":"2016-04-26T21:32:05","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T04:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=192816"},"modified":"2016-04-26T21:32:05","modified_gmt":"2016-04-27T04:32:05","slug":"bellator-mma-looking-to-pursue-rory-macdonald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rory-macdonald\/bellator-mma-looking-to-pursue-rory-macdonald\/","title":{"rendered":"Bellator MMA looking to pursue Rory MacDonald"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While Rory MacDonald is currently <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/videos\/joe-rogan-wonderboy-vs-rory-macdonald-up-next\/\">slated to fight Stephen &#8216;Wonderboy&#8217; Thompson<\/a> in the main event of UFC Fight Night 89 in June, the top ranked welterweight has expressed his desire to test the free agency after the fight given that his contract is expired.<\/p>\n<p>Unsurprisingly, Bellator MMA, who have scooped up quite a few UFC veterans, including former UFC champion Benson Henderson,  will be looking to sign MacDonald.<\/p>\n<p>Bellator MMA CEO Scott Coker spoke to <a href=\"http:\/\/mmajunkie.com\/2016\/04\/bellators-scott-coker-time-is-right-for-ufc-fighters-like-rory-macdonald-to-test-free-agency\" target=\"_blank\">MMAJunkie<\/a> to discuss the situation:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;We&#8217;re not going to interfere in anybody&#8217;s contract, because they have a contract with them. But I will say this &#8211; if you&#8217;re a free agent, you should fight your fights out, because we&#8217;re here too. So now, there&#8217;s more than one buyer, which is good for the market, which is good for individuals, which is good for the league, which is good for the industry. Not every fighter&#8217;s gonna fit with us. But he&#8217;s a guy that we&#8217;d be interested in talking to, if the time is right.&#8221;<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Do you think MacDonald will be the next UFC fighter to sign with Bellator? Sound off below PENN Nation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While Rory MacDonald is currently slated to fight Stephen &#8216;Wonderboy&#8217; Thompson in the main event of UFC Fight Night 89 in June, the top ranked welterweight has expressed his desire to test the free agency after the fight given that his contract is expired. Unsurprisingly, Bellator MMA, who have scooped up quite a few UFC [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":192794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10146],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bellator MMA looking to pursue Rory MacDonald | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rory-macdonald\/bellator-mma-looking-to-pursue-rory-macdonald\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bellator MMA looking to pursue Rory MacDonald | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While Rory MacDonald is currently slated to fight Stephen &#8216;Wonderboy&#8217; Thompson in the main event of UFC Fight Night 89 in June, the top ranked welterweight has expressed his desire to test the free agency after the fight given that his contract is expired. Unsurprisingly, Bellator MMA, who have scooped up quite a few UFC [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rory-macdonald\/bellator-mma-looking-to-pursue-rory-macdonald\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-27T04:32:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Rory-MacDonald.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"730\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rory-macdonald\/bellator-mma-looking-to-pursue-rory-macdonald\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rory-macdonald\/bellator-mma-looking-to-pursue-rory-macdonald\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"bjpenndotcom\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/7c8b8d1602cb47040b7a5cd250d5b90a\"},\"headline\":\"Bellator MMA looking to pursue Rory MacDonald\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-27T04:32:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-04-27T04:32:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rory-macdonald\/bellator-mma-looking-to-pursue-rory-macdonald\/\"},\"wordCount\":194,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Rory MacDonald\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2016\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rory-macdonald\/bellator-mma-looking-to-pursue-rory-macdonald\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rory-macdonald\/bellator-mma-looking-to-pursue-rory-macdonald\/\",\"name\":\"Bellator MMA looking to pursue Rory MacDonald | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-27T04:32:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-04-27T04:32:05+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rory-macdonald\/bellator-mma-looking-to-pursue-rory-macdonald\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rory-macdonald\/bellator-mma-looking-to-pursue-rory-macdonald\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rory-macdonald\/bellator-mma-looking-to-pursue-rory-macdonald\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Rory MacDonald\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rory-macdonald\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Bellator MMA looking to pursue Rory MacDonald\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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