After getting promised a shot to face either Johny Hendricks or Robbie Lawler for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight title, Rory MacDonald got the wrong end of the deal once again.
That's because the ZUFFA-owned company opted to stage a trilogy fight between Hendricks and Lawler after "Ruthless" dethroned "Bigg Rigg" at UFC 181 in Dec. 2014 via unanimous decision (see it again here).
The choice didn't sit too well with MacDonald, who declared on "The MMA Hour" earlier today that getting his title fight taken away from him was "heartbreaking."
His words (via MMA Fighting):
"I was a little bit heartbroken. But, it's okay. Even when I first heard the news that I was promised I was going to get the next title shot, I was skeptical. You can't always believe what you hear. Things change so often in this sport, you'd be a fool if you believed everything that came out. So I'm not surprised that it happened. But, I was pretty sad about it."
As a consolation prize for leaving "Red King" out in the cold, the promotion offered the Canadian star a fight against Hector Lombard at UFC 186 on April 25, 2015, to keep him warm in the meantime. It's a big-time bout MacDonald says he has agreed to in principle, but has yet to sign on the dotted line.
As far as the third (and perhaps final) fight between Hendricks and Lawler, MacDonald says it wasn't warranted because he believes "Ruthless" clearly won the rematch.
His words:
"Honestly, I didn't even (think about the possibility of a trilogy fight). I thought Robbie won the fight pretty clearly in my eyes. I didn't see why they would want a third fight ... at all. I figured, you know, they would definitely want me to fight Robbie after that fight. So it didn't work out. It didn't work out like I thought it would."
MacDonald says he wasn't given an exact reason, other than the obvious one, as to why his title fight -- was supposed to go down in his home country of Canada -- was taken from him.
And though he says it was a waste of his time fly to Las Vegas, Nevada, to do a little pre-promotion for his upcoming title fight, MacDonald says despite the fact that he doesn't agree with the way UFC does things at times -- especially when it comes to title shots -- he has to live with the decision because at the end of the day, he "isn't in their shoes."
Just don't expect him to fall for anymore promised title shots from UFC, because if they put a title fight on the table with a win over Lombard, he "wouldn't believe them anyway if they did." And you really can't blame him, because after earning his way to the top time and time again, he's been held back by one obstacle or another for a shot at the strap.
MacDonald admits the situation he constantly finds himself in is frustrating. And that's not good for his future opponents because a "pissed off" MacDonald is determined to go into the Octagon to "fuck someone up."
"A little bit, you know? It makes me a little bit bitter about the situation, and probably makes me think about it in a little bit of a negative light. But, you know, I'm a little bit pissed off and that's how I'm dealing with it. I don't know. Just keep watching. I have nothing to say, I don't know what to say. I just, you know, I'm just going to keep fighting. Whatever. If there's a belt there afterward or there's not, I'm still going to go out there and fuck someone up."