UFC 145 Results: 5 Questions We Still Have About Rory MacDonald

For nearly two rounds, Rory MacDonald punished Che Mills with brutal ground and pound at UFC 145.

MacDonald shot in early in the first round and put a beating on Mills, hitting him with heavy punches and elbows, turning his face into a bloody mess in the process, and the same continued until the referee mercifully stopped the fight in the second round.

The win was expected for MacDonald, but due to his fight being the second billed on a high profile card, this fight was the biggest win of his career so far.

MacDonald is now one of the top fighters in the welterweight division, but there are still some major questions surrounding the hottest prospect in MMA.

Does He Have the Chin to Make It to the Top of the Division?

Despite MacDonald’s current three-fight win streak, the defining moment of his career is still his loss to Carlos Condit back at UFC 115.

MacDonald was likely up 2-0 on the judges scorecards going into the third and final round, but Condit turned it on and ended up stopping MacDonald with punches with just seconds left in the fight.

Losing to Condit is no big deal, but the fact that Rory was unable to stay out of trouble for the last few minutes of the bout is scary.

Obviously Condit is a great striker and has plenty of finishing power, but he didn’t seem to hit Rory with any huge shots, and MacDonald ended up getting hurt and finished anyway.

Can He Beat a Top Five Fighter?

While everyone is jumping on the MacDonald bandwagon, let's not forget that he’s lost his only fight against a top level welterweight.

Wins over Mike Pyle and Che Mills are decent, but his win over Nate Diaz that was the most impressive off his career is extremely diminished by that fact that Nate is and always has been a better fighter at lightweight.

Until MacDonald beats someone like Josh Koscheck or Condit, it’s hard to call him a future champion.

Is His Wrestling Good Enough to Hang with the Best at Welterweight?

MacDonald’s wrestling looked awesome against Che Mills, but Mills is primarily a striker and has struggled off his back before.

Only one of Rory’s opponents in the UFC has had anything resembling a wrestling base—Mike Pyle—and MacDonald finished him rather quickly.

If matched up against a tough wrestler like Jon Fitch or Mike Pierce, will Rory be able to stay off his back long enough to win the fight?

Will His Friendship with Georges St-Pierre Prevent Him from Greatness?

MacDonald hasn’t earned a title shot just yet, but that didn’t prevent people from asking him what he thought about fighting teammate and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

MacDonald has already said that he would rather move up to middleweight than fight his friend and training partner, and St-Pierre has said much of the same.

It’s still a little early in his career to start worrying about title shots, but as long as GSP is the champion, it doesn’t look like Rory will be getting a shot at the belt.

Who’s Next?

After smashing Mills, MacDonald deserves a top guy in the welterweight division.

The problem is that all of the other top guys are already booked against each other or are sidelined by injury.

MacDonald said he wanted to remain active this year in his post-fight interview, but with the top five or six guys in the division all locked into other fights, we could have to wait until July or August before we get to see “Ares” again.