Opinion: In the New, Curious Court of ‘The Red King’

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.* * * After nearly seven years in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Rory MacDonald is off to Bellator MMA. No one is surprised. In fact, with MacDonald’s recent comments about wanting to test free agency even prior to his embarrassing 25-minute loss to Stephen Thompson in June, this was perhaps an even more likely outcome than the British Columbia native re-signing with the UFC. But as with many things surrounding Rory MacDonald, from his perpetually bizarre affect to his friendship with Mike Ricci, I am a bit puzzled.I’m not quizzical about MacDonald’s decision, mind you. Like I said, most people saw this jump as probable if not a mortal lock. One of the reasons it was so easy to identify MacDonald as a potential Bellator signee is that it made sense for him and the UFC. MacDonald’s last UFC deal had him making between $50,000 and $60,000 to show and again to win over his last six fights, not a traditionally escalating deal were those figures often double or add 50 percent from bout to bout over the agreement term. On top of that, MacDonald has had title fight and lost, albeit in a classic, and it’s not as though he’s a pay-per-view main event draw who is going to reap the rewards of bonus dollars on his PPV buys. MacDonald’s got an individual Reebok sponsorship, but even without being a Conor McGregor-level draw can probably drum up far more in free market sponsors working in Bellator. As for the UFC, MacDonald already fought for a title in a jam-packed division and while he produced a classic and 2015’s unanimous “Fight of the Year” with Robbie Lawler at UFC 189, he lost and suffered a brutal beating many are wondering if he’ll ever fully recover from physically and competitively. The last fight on his deal was jaw-dropping, as it almost seemed like MacDonald was intentionally hurting his own bargaining power by sliding for inane leglocks against Thompson for most of five rounds. Then, when MacDonald opened up just briefly in round five, Thompson re-broke his now-perpetually crushed nose in what is becoming a troubling theme. MacDonald is not a legitimate draw for the UFC, they’ve got more welterweight contenders than they know what to do with now and certainly the company doesn’t want to set a precedent on overpaying for talent on losing streaks that could be on the backside of the career, especially at 27. And of course, if MacDonald resurrects himself in Bellator and returns to earlier form, the UFC can always try to lure him home again. No, what doesn’t make sense is Bellator’s particular interest in MacDonald. If Bellator was trying to be a promotion that strictly competed against the UFC in a more head-to-head fashion, genuinely competing to build the greatest and deepest roster of MMA fighters it could, I would be more understanding. However, that is not the modern Bellator product; Scott Coker is no longer running Strikeforce and he is now dealing with a different animal. Back in 2009, the MMA landscape was vastly different. The UFC ran 20 cards that year and were just beginning to get into the swing of international expansion, with a roster of under 200 fighters. Not only was there more legitimate talent to sign, from established stars to up-and-coming …

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