Rory MacDonald may well have fought his last fight in the UFC’s Octagon.
The free agent made no secret of his desire to test his value once his contract with the UFC ended after his most recent fight, a decision defeat to Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson.
A fan favourite from his time in the UFC, MacDonald’s signature is being rabidly chased by more than one eager organisation.
The second-ranked welterweight in the UFC is being courted by both Bellator and ONE Championship, according to reports this week.
Respected reporter Chamatkar Sandhu announced via Twitter on Thursday afternoon that Bellator president Scott Coker confirmed that his interest in MacDonald had progressed to a stage where he is in dialogue with the fighter’s representatives.
Bellator President Scott Coker told me they have begun a line of communication with Rory MacDonald in the hopes of signing the free agent.
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) July 14, 2016
And amid the talk of a considerable injection of funds to ONE Championship, the biggest MMA promotion in Asia, FloCombat’s Jim Edwards was able to reveal that they are also speaking to MacDonald in an attempt to persuade him to sign on the dotted line.
UFC fighters allowing their contracts to run up in order to gauge their worth among other organisations is something of a new phenomenon, with the likes of Benson Henderson and Matt Mitrione jumping ship to Bellator earlier this year.
If Bellator is to secure a deal for MacDonald, he could end up meeting Henderson, a former UFC lightweight champion who lost his welterweight debut in Bellator to 170 lbs champion Andrey Koreshkov.
And if ONE Championship is to be MacDonald’s destination then he will be have his eye on ONE welterweight champ Ben Askren.
“I want to make the most money I can. I want to get paid for what I bring to the table,” MacDonald said on the MMA Hour in March. “I’ve sacrificed a lot to get to the top, to the world title. I really sacrificed, and I took a lot of chances. I did a lot of favours, I felt like, for the UFC and I don’t think it got returned. So now it’s all about making money, and whoever wants to pay me the most is where I’ll go.”
Watch this space closely.
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