Macdonald has a very bright future in MMA. Tough 2 fight stretch for him though, Condit, now Diaz.

Macdonald has a very bright future in MMA. Tough 2 fight stretch for him though, Condit, now Diaz.

@Michigandolphin yeah you have to assume either Joe Silva really has faith in him, or just doesn't like him.

Rory actually did extremely well against Condit and probably took the first two rounds of their fight.  I'd say Joe Silva just has faith in him, as do I.  I think he's going to pull off the upset in this fight in what could easily be FotN on one of the biggest UFC cards ever.  I don't think he'll be able to finish Nate, but I think he could take a decision.

i agree with lynx that it shows joe silva's confidence in rory and could easily be fotn.  i'm not ready to make a pick though.  it'll be close.

I kinda' hope McDonald wins this.

MacDonald defenetly looked good against Condit! But I gotta pull for Diaz in this one. I'd never thought I'd say it but the Diaz brothers have been winning me over for the past year or so (Nate a little longer than Nick, but defenetly hard on both their bandwagons) I think Diaz is going to be comfortable anywhere this fight takes place, defenetly agree with the comment from Lynx Guy about this being a potential FoTN

FoTN for sure! Rory damn near had that fight with Condit and looked amazing considering it was his first fight in the UFC. I'm not saying Nate isn't tough by any stretch of the imagination, but i think Rory is more athletic and dynamic and it will show at the end of the fight. I won't be suprised to see a split decision win though.

love the diaz brothers, they are the anti-gsp....they get offended if the judges scores are read...LOVE THAT! diaz via sub

@bklettke - Rory actually submitted Mike Guymon in the first round of his UFC debut.  After seeing that I hopped on the Rory MacDonald bandwagon and haven't gotten off.  I still think he's a future star in the welterweight division.

Macky D gets the decision.

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The Waterboy put up an amazing fight wth Condit and i think he'll do more of the same here. Nate Diaz won't have the wrestling or speed to hang wiht Macdonald.

Love McDonald and I think he has a bright future. Waterboy via Decision.

I have a hard time understanding who were the 8% who voteed Diaz by KO/TKO.

I just think Diaz will pull out a sub in this one. MacDonald very well could pull out the decision though, but I think Diaz will catch him late in the 3rd like Condit did by being so active from the bottom.

I'm thinking Macdonald can wrestle**** Diaz. I'm not confident in this pick, but we'll see. (this is a prelim by the way, not a maincard fight. Unless spike tv fights count as main card on here?)

I went back and forth on this one like 5 times. I'm going with MacDonald on the assumption that he is young and getting better with every fight.

heres my fight analysis

macdonald gets a takedown in the first but lets condit back up. he gets another one and does absolutely nothing with it. throws 0 punches and condit doesnt do very much damage but he does a lot more than macdonald before he lets him back up at the 3 minute mark. 
2:52 mark Condit rocks macdonald
some clinching ensues with another takedown by macdonald
macdonald does very little damage, condit continues with mission control and punches from the bottom and they stand up at the 1:35 mark
condit controls the standup and lands about 5 really nice leg kicks until another takedown with about 5 seconds left by macdonald.
end of round one
This round is hard to score because yeah macdonald got takedowns but he didnt do anything at all with them. maybe 3 strikes thrown the entire time and no sub attempts or attempts to pass guard. condit landed 3x as many strikes from the bottom and out struck him on the feet. so it depends on how you view takedowns.
that round is probably a 10-10 for me. yeah rory got the takedowns but they didnt do anything. condit rocked him on the feet, landed some really nice leg kicks and did more damage, albeit from the bottom. id rather score it 10-9 condit but i dont feel like arguing that sometimes takedowns dont mean anything.
round two some decent standup ensues, rory controlling the center while condit lands a leg kick and some meaningless strikes. condit pulls guard at the 4:20 mark. After some time of nothing they stand back up for some more meaningless standup with condit landing a couple leg kicks
3:00 mark condit stuffs a takedown and winds up on top of macdonald. condit tries to stand back up but gets tripped by macdonald and ends up on his back again. condit goes to mission control.
1:47 mark condit gets back up after litterally no strikes from the top from rory.
more even stand up, rory stuffs a takedown attempt, condit lands a good knee from the clinch. 
right at the end of the round condit lands a big jumping push kick to the face. 
in round two there were no successful takedowns by rory, the only time he was on top was when condit pulled guard and when he tripped carlos after he stood up. rory did no damage from the top and landed maybe 2 meaningful strikes from standup. the only thing you could give rory was when he was on top when condit pulled guard(which he did no damage) and when he was on top from the trip(which he did no damage). rory did control the center of the octagon but didnt really do much with it in the round. condit landed leg kicks and threw more.
condit 10-9
some more standup macdonald lands a really nice headkick. rory lands a couple more solid shots and seems to be taking control of the fight. condit then drops down for a kimura and rory spins out of it but ends up on the bottom.  condit lands a really big shot from the top but then steps back after rorys butterfly guard keeps his hips unballanced. but then condit steps in and lands a big punch and gets back on top. condit lands a big elbow and moves to mount. rory gets back to half guard and condit lands a couple more strikes before standing up and dropping a big punch and getting back on top. macdonald is then able to get himself back standing. some clinching and condit lands some nice knees and punches and then stuffs a takedown and ends up on top. condit with some great ground and pound. rorys orbital is obviously broken. condit stands back up, lands a good punch and gets back on top. condit gets mount but rorys hips are working keeping him off balance. but some more gnp ends the fight.
now i realize some of you are going to think im an idiot because rory got the takedowns in the first and that most judges think takedowns win fights, and they could, but when i judge fights and there are takedowns that dont lead to anything i dont think all that much of them besides the fact that one fighter could put the other fighter on his back, which does score points. but when the fighter that got the takedown loses the battle on the ground by getting out punched well then the momentum swings the other way. and thats how i felt about the first round. so if you feel takedowns are super important then you could say 10-9 rory, if they arent the most important thing in the world then you could say 10-10, if they are important but what happens after the takedown matters more then you could say 10-9 condit.
the second was different because rory didnt score any takedowns.
and i know some of you are gonig to see this and say "oh i saw the fight you just wasted your time" which i probably did, and its cool cause i had some time to waste. its not like typing this ruined the beer i was drinking.
some of you are going to read this and get a good idea of how the fight went without watching it. but still watch it, its very good. 
rory has a great future in the welterweight division. he looked very composed vs condit and fought very well. i think hes going to have a lot of trouble vs diaz tho. diaz is much better off his back than condit is and he might even let the fight go there knowing that rory doesnt do much from the top. 
i think the fight will go with rory taking down diaz in the first, realizing that hes probably going to get subbed if he stays there so he stands up in the 2nd and gets KOed.

holy **** thats long
if you read it you are awesome

I really like Nate Diaz and it is hard for me to pick against him. I just feel that Rory will keep it standing and if it does get to the ground Rory MacDonald will have enough strength to get it back to the feet. Nate has a dangerous ground game and his jab is sick. I just see Rory looking as well as he did against Carlos in rd 1,2.