{"id":455997,"date":"2022-08-17T14:17:43","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T21:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=455997"},"modified":"2022-08-17T14:17:43","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T21:17:43","slug":"rory-macdonald-admits-retirement-was-a-long-time-coming-its-not-who-i-am-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/professional-fighters-league\/rory-macdonald-admits-retirement-was-a-long-time-coming-its-not-who-i-am-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory MacDonald admits retirement was a long time coming: “It’s not who I am anymore”"},"content":{"rendered":"

PFL welterweight Rory MacDonald has admitted that his retirement has been brewing for a while.<\/p>\n

‘Red King’ is fresh off his knockout loss to Dilano Taylor<\/a> at PFL 8 last weekend. The defeat was MacDonald’s fourth in his last five contests. Following the defeat, the 33-year-old decided to hang up the gloves and call it a career.<\/p>\n

It was an announcement<\/a> that caught some fans off guard, given the Canadian’s age and successes in the cage. MacDonald is just a few years removed from being a Bellator champion, and a UFC star.<\/p>\n

However, as he’s revealed in an appearance on The MMA Hour<\/em> with Ariel Helwani, the announcement was a long time coming. In fact, the Canadian was debating retirement as far back as his showdown with Gegard Mousasi<\/a> in 2018.<\/p>\n

Instead, Rory MacDonald fought on, but it was harder each time. Now that he’s hung up the gloves, he’s admitted that his heart hasn’t been in the sport for years. Following the loss to Dilano Taylor, MacDonald stated that he couldn’t convince himself to fight anymore.<\/p>\n

\"Rory
PhotoCred: Sportsnet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cEvery fight, for a while now, it\u2019s been diminishing. I\u2019ve seen it more and more. This season was my last hurrah, to basically \u2014 I was all-in. I was going to put everything I absolutely could into this, and if I was successful, I would just keep going with it and go toward my goals, but if I fall short, that will be the end. And this last fight, even if I had put up a better fight and lost, or even if I had won, just the feeling I had in that fight was confirmation to me that this isn\u2019t for me anymore. It\u2019s not who I am anymore. So I\u2019ve got to listen to that.” (h\/t MMAFighting<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

Rory MacDonald continued, \u201cJust being under those lights and face-to-face with your opponent and not wanting to be there, not wanting to push through that intensity that you meet when you\u2019re in a fight, when someone\u2019s trying to attack you. You feel that, that intensity. Usually you have some sort of resistance to that, mentally, and it\u2019s just not there for me anymore. I don\u2019t have that passion to keep doing this with 100 percent of myself anymore, and I think that\u2019s confirmation to me that I shouldn\u2019t be doing this anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you think about Rory MacDonald retiring? Sound off in the comment section below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PFL welterweight Rory MacDonald has admitted that his retirement has been brewing for a while. ‘Red King’ is fresh off his knockout loss to Dilano Taylor at PFL 8 last weekend. The defeat was MacDonald’s fourth in his last five contests. Following the defeat, the 33-year-old decided to hang up the gloves and call it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54493,"featured_media":286169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[24130,10146],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nRory MacDonald admits retirement was a long time coming: "It's not who I am anymore" | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PFL welterweight contender Rory MacDonald has opened up on his decision to retire following a knockout loss earlier this month.\" \/>\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\/professional-fighters-league\/rory-macdonald-admits-retirement-was-a-long-time-coming-its-not-who-i-am-anymore\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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