MONTREAL – Firas Zahabi doesn’t expect Rory MacDonald to go anywhere once the Bellator welterweight grand prix comes to a conclusion Saturday at Bellator 232.
The past half year has seen a major evolution within MacDonald (21-5-1 MMA, 3-1-1 BMMA). His perspective on the fight game has changed, and at times it’s seemed as though his motivations weren’t in the right place, especially when he was struggling to balance his religious beliefs with the idea of stepping in a cage to inflict physical harm on another man.
If there’s any part of MacDonald that doesn’t want to fight anymore, defeating Douglas Lima (31-7 MMA, 13-3 BMMA) in their $1 million tournament final rematch would be a prime way to go out. MacDonald’s longtime coach Zahabi, doesn’t see it happening, though.
“Let’s say he won a million and retired, I feel like personally he’s going to come back even if he doesn’t need the money,” Zahabi, who runs Tristar Gym in Montreal, told MMA Junkie. “That’s just where I feel he’s at. He’s going to miss fighting if he ever hangs it up. In my opinion he has a lot more fight left in him. Before the Neiman (Gracie) fight people were like, ‘Did he just retire?’ That’s not what he said.
“Fighters are emotional after a fight. Some of them do retire for real. It does happen, but it also swings the other way. You start feeling like you want to go back in. Georges (St-Pierre) at one point retired, he wasn’t sure and he came back to win the world title. I never count them out, personally I never count that out.”
Zahabi admits there’s been some challenges working with MacDonald this year. None of them related to his work ethic in the gym, however, but instead finding a balance between his personal life and Bellator needing to maintain its tournament schedule.
There was initially a lot of pressure on MacDonald to make a quick turnaround from his semifinal win over Gracie in June and rematch Lima in September. The promotion worked with MacDonald to book the timeline that suited him better, and they came up with Bellator 232, which takes place Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
“I like where he’s at but to be honest he just had a baby so it was a tight timeline,” Zahabi said. “I really appreciated Bellator gave him more time. They wanted him in September and I feel like they did what they could. I’m really happy with Scott Coker. I don’t know him personally, but just from seeing how he treats the fighters I have a lot of respect for him. He understands. We understand there’s a business side, but there’s also a human side. He had a baby very, very recently Rory. When you have a newborn it’s tough to have a training camp. He’s sacrificing, he’s doing what he’s got to do and they gave him an extra month.
“I thought that was huge from Bellator. We respect Bellator. We know it’s business. We know the fans want to see the fight and it has to happen soon. It was tough for Rory to have to fight back-to-back then have a baby. I’m really happy they gave him some breathing room. It showed a lot of heart from Bellator. They show the value of a fighter.”
The extra time also gave MacDonald time to prepare for Lima accordingly. Their first fight at Bellator 192 in January 2018 was an all-out battle for 25 minutes, with MacDonald taking the deciding fifth rounds with some smart tactics.
All signs have pointed to a rematch since the original meeting. MacDonald and Lima both worked their way through opposing sides of the grand prix bracket to find themselves as the last men standing in the eight-man tournament.
Zahabi said he’s compelled by the dynamics of the rematch. MacDonald has said he’s hoping to make the fight easier for himself this time around, and Zahabi said a strategy has been formed based off the first fight that should make the second encounter look different.
“It’s an interesting fight because they already fought before and it was so close,” Zahabi said. “Before you fight a guy like Lima, you know what he does, but you don’t know the chemistry, how his chemistry is going to be with Rory. Now we saw what their chemistry is like. Styles is a major component of MMA, more than any other combat sport. Boxing, yes, styles matter, but it’s still boxing. There’s not as many possibilities for change, whereas MMA there’s so many things that could be different.
“There are more possibilities, so now that we know what their chemistry is like we’re going to explore the different possibilities. Because they know each other so well they’re going to go in there with a different strategy, at least we are. It’s going to be a competitive fight, but always a different fight.”
Firas Zahabi can't see Rory MacDonald retiring if he wins welterweight grand prix at Bellator 232