Rory MacDonald retiring from MMA after PFL season exit
Former UFC title challenger and Bellator champion Rory MacDonald announced his retirement from mixed martial arts Sunday.
MacDonald suffered an upset TKO loss to Dilano Taylor - who stepped in as a short-notice replacement - in the PFL 8 main event Saturday to miss the finals for a second straight season.
The 33-year-old debuted in the UFC in 2010 and produced a 9-4 record in six years with the promotion, racking up wins against the likes of Nate Diaz, B.J. Penn, and Tyron Woodley.
The highlight of MacDonald's run with the UFC was his instant-classic rematch with then-welterweight champion Robbie Lawler at UFC 189 in 2015.
Lawler won the brutal back-and-forth brawl via a fifth-round TKO after losing three of the first four rounds on all three judges' scorecards.
The fight also gave the MMA world one of its most iconic moments as the bloodied adversaries stared each other down heading into the final round.
MacDonald fought one more time in the UFC following his second loss to Lawler - a unanimous decision defeat to Stephen Thompson - before moving over to Bellator in 2017 with a plan to win both the welterweight and middleweight titles.
After submitting Paul Daley in his Bellator debut, MacDonald won the 170-pound title by beating Douglas Lima via unanimous decision. But he fell short of his double-champion goal in his next fight, losing to Gegard Mousasi by second-round TKO.
MacDonald defended his title twice in the Welterweight Grand Prix (a majority draw over Jon Fitch and a unanimous decision victory over Neiman Gracie) before dropping the belt in a finals rematch with Lima.
The Canadian made his PFL debut in 2021 after joining the promotion in 2019 and put together a 2-4 record.