Rory MacDonald Believes Robbie Lawler Was On PEDs For UFC 189 Bout
Rory MacDonald doesn’t believe his fight against Robbie Lawler for the welterweight title at UFC 189 was a clean one.
“”The Red King” once rode a three fight win streak over the likes of UFC welterweights Demian Maia, Tyron Woodley, and Tarec Saffiedine that earned him a shot at “The Ruthless One’s” then-170-pound crown. The pair co-main evented UFC 189 on pay-per-view (PPV) from Las Vegas an put on the Fight Of The Year in an epic 25-minute back-and-forth blood bath.
MacDonald seemed to have the fight in the bag heading into the fifth round on the judges’ scorecards, however, after suffering a broken nose and taking repeated shots to the face from Lawler, the pain was too much to endure and the Canadian was finished just a minute into the round. MacDonald has since departed from the UFC in favor of joining Bellator MMA, and recently held a Reddit ‘Ask Me Anything’ to answer some fan questions.
During the Q&A a fan asked MacDonald if he believes Lawler was on PEDs for the fight, to which he responded that he is ‘convinced’ he was (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“I’m convinced he was,” MacDonald said.
He also offered his thoughts on current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, who he has defeated inside the Octagon before:
“I think Tyron is a very strong competitor,” MacDonald wrote. “Very strategic, athletic, but I am aware of his weaknesses also.”
MacDonald’s Bellator MMA debut was a successful one as he defeated Paul Daley via second round submission. While he did note that a match-up with newly-acquired middleweight Gegard Mousasi is possible, his eyes are still fixed on welterweight gold:
“I believe if my next fight is for the title, I will beat (Bellator welterweight champion Douglas) Lima then fight the winner of Mousasi vs. (Bellator middleweight champion Rafael) Carvalho,” MacDonald wrote.
