{"id":33481,"date":"2025-07-30T22:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T22:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/33481\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T22:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T22:27:10","slug":"rory-macdonald-opens-door-to-make-mma-comeback-im-enjoying-my-time-in-martial-arts-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/33481\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory MacDonald opens door to make MMA comeback: ‘I’m enjoying my time in martial arts again’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald could be ending his retirement.<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/p>\n

MacDonald retired from MMA<\/a> in August of 2022 after a 2-4 run in the PFL. The Canadian said he lost the passion for the sport and didn\u2019t want to hurt anyone anymore. Since then, he has been out of the spotlight. But he has since returned to the gym and helped Stephen Thompson prepare for his last fight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, as he closes in on three years since his retirement, Rory MacDonald is opening up the door for a return.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, but I\u2019m back in the gym full time. It\u2019s got me loving training again, that\u2019s for sure. I don\u2019t know what that will lead to, but I\u2019m enjoying my time in martial arts again. It just feels good,\u201d MacDonald said to Ariel Helwani<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m training twice a day, three times a day. It is more than staying in shape, for sure. I\u2019m trying to improve myself. There\u2019s nothing for sure. I\u2019m just having fun at this point, and I\u2019m letting God just take the direction in my life. Where the doors open, if there\u2019s opportunities, I\u2019m going down that path.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacDonald challenged Robbie Lawler for the welterweight title at UFC 189, and it\u2019s one of the greatest fights in UFC history. He also won the Bellator welterweight title. Although he won the Bellator title, MacDonald says him not achieving his goals of being a UFC champion burned him out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald could be ending his retirement. MacDonald retired from MMA in August…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-33481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}