UFC 174's Rory MacDonald on Woodley: 'This isn't an athleticism contest'

Rory MacDonald‘s coach thinks his fighter is more athletic than Tyron Woodley.

And while MacDonald (16-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) may not be ready to agree with him, he’s not going to just concede that to Woodley (13-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC), either. And even if he did, there’s one important thing MacDonald wants to be known ahead of their UFC 174 co-main event.

“He’s definitely more muscular than me, and he’s a very explosive guy,” MacDonald told MMAjunkie. “But this isn’t an athleticism contest. This is martial arts.”

The two welterweights meet in a pivotal matchup on Saturday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, which is the home turf of MacDonald, a British Columbia native who now trains with Firas Zahabi in Montreal.

At one point, the winner was thought to get a title shot against champion Johny Hendricks. That might not be the case anymore, though, with a recently booked meeting between the streaking Matt Brown and Robbie Lawler next month at UFC on FOX 12.

See what “Ares” has to say about the title shot possibilities, as well as fighting in front of his home crowd, in the video above.

And for more on UFC 174, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.