Rory MacDonald and a UFC 170 win that nearly wasn’t thanks to an avocado

LAS VEGAS – It takes quite a bit to keep Rory MacDonald down.

Prior to the buildup for Saturday’s UFC 170, the only things, really, that had done so were Carlos Condit late in one fight and Robbie Lawler in his most recent outing. But not long before Saturday’s card, MacDonald nearly was felled by … an avocado.

MacDonald (16-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) survived a rough first round against Demian Maia (18-6 MMA, 12-6 UFC) to take a unanimous decision by dominating the fight in the standup game – and keeping Maia from taking him down most of the second and third rounds.

But afterward, he said he nearly had to pull out of the fight when he cut himself while trying to slice the famous green fruit.

“I stabbed myself. It was pretty embarrassing,” MacDonald said at the post-event news conference following his win at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. “I couldn’t believe it. I thought I was going to have to pull out of the fight because you could easily hit a tendon. I went to the emergency room, got stitched up, got checked out. Everything’s fine and intact. It went in really far. But it got stitched up, I fought, and everything’s cool.”

MacDonald was looking for a major rebound after his loss to Lawler this past November. That win for Lawler put him in a title fight against Johny Hendricks after MacDonald teammate Georges St-Pierre vacated the belt to take a leave from the sport.

Now MacDonald may be in a position to fight the winner of that bout, which headlines UFC 171 next month in Dallas.

“I was very happy with how I fought tonight,” he said. “I felt like I didn’t overthink everything like my last couple fights. I just went in there and let the training show. I just shut my mind off and I fought. I felt good. I’d still like to rewatch the fight, but everyone seems to be happy with it.”

Where he might not be happy upon rewatching it is in the first round. Maia took him down early and force MacDonald to work off his back. But MacDonald weathered the early storm against the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.

And in the second and third rounds, when Maia again wanted to get the fight to the floor, MacDonald continually shrugged off the takedown attempts. Maia got just one more big one in the third, but couldn’t do much with it, and MacDonald worked his way back to the feet – where he continued to beat the Brazilian up in the standup department on his way to a trio of 29-28 scores.

“I stayed calm,” MacDonald said. “I knew Demian’s takedown was very strong and he’s a strong jiu-jitsu fighter. But I stayed relaxed and I waited for my opportunity to escape and get back to my feet. I knew if I got up to my feet again, defended the takedown, that takes effort on his part. I knew I’d wear him out that way. He’s a super tough guy. I hit him with a lot of good shots, and he stayed on his feet.”

MacDonald said it was only Maia’s toughness that kept him from getting a finish.

“I was definitely trying to finish him and keep the punches and kicks coming,” he said. “But he was taking everything I had and constantly shooting for my legs. But I was definitely in there for the kill tonight. It just didn’t come through.”

MacDonald now likely will keep a close eye on the Hendricks-Lawler fight. He just will probably do so while steering clear of avocados this time.

For complete coverage of UFC 170, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.