Following years of consistent winning, bantamweight veteran Michael McDonald has hit a bit of a rollercoaster, alternating wins and losses in his last five fights since 2013.
For McDonald, there are two main culprits to why he feels he’s not been able to stay consistent over the past couple years.
“The most obvious thing I can say that lead to consistency with wins and losses is me fighting the best competition in the world,” McDonald told MMAWeekly.com. “When you’re fighting people you’re much better than, you’re obviously going to win a lot more, but when you fight the best in the world, you’re not going to win as much.
“Second off, I would say that most of my career, I had my eye focused on the light at the end of the tunnel. I was super motivated and focused to get to the light at the end of the tunnel. When I got to the UFC and got some wins, I thought I got there, but there’s just another light at the end of the tunnel. That was just really, really, frustrating for me.”
McDonald realizes how his disillusion affected him, and has since worked hard to adjust his mindset and put himself in a better place to achieve his goals moving forward.
“It takes away a bit of the motivation,” said McDonald. “You need to be completely focused. You can’t have any hints of anger and frustration, and I did have some. That was hard. But I feel like everything is good now. I’ve made an incredible amount of adjustments for me to understand what this sport is and how to succeed in it.”
At Bellator 191 on Friday in Newcastle, England, McDonald (17-4) will look to make an impression in his first bout with the promotion when he takes on Peter Ligier (8-1-1) in the evening’s 135-pound main event.
“Peter is very well-rounded and aggressive,” McDonald said. “I’ve never seen a fight of Peter’s where he’s chilling back and just taking his time. Every time I’ve seen him, he’s coming, he’s very aggressive. He has no quit, and that’s something I think is very admirable. He is just always moving forward.
“I see holes in his game, which is good for me. I hope he can find holes in my game from his perspective or else he’s in trouble. I’m going to try to exploit them and see if they work, and I’m excited to test my skills.”
Heading into 2018, McDonald just wants to keep his head down and focus on the work he has to put in to keep his career moving forward.
“I’ve learned, something I believe now, is the best way for success in anything is to grind,” said McDonald. “That’s going to be the best way to get success in what you’re trying to do. Where you’re trying to rinse and repeat. Where you can get the majority of the thinking handled, and then find a process where you can rinse and repeat and continue to progress.”
