The anticipation continues to rise as we approach the
December 8th return of “The Prodigy” BJ Penn. Standing opposite of
Penn in the UFC octagon on that upcoming December night will be the rising
Tri-Star gym standout, Rory “Ares” MacDonald. The fight, which will be featured
on the main card of the upcoming UFC on FOX 5 event in Seattle, Washington,
will be a battle of old school vs. new school as Penn will be playing the role
of the experienced and battle-tested vet looking to tame the young, fiery
stallion in MacDonald. Both men knowingly admit that they will have their hands
full on the 8th but MacDonald recently had the opportunity to let
his feelings toward Penn and the fight be heard on a larger stage as he took
questions from the media and fans at the UFC 154 Q&A.
When asked about Penn’s training and his mindset toward this
fight MacDonald made it clear that he doesn’t care what kind of BJ Penn steps
in to the cage that night because he is going to fight him the same way
regardless of how prepared Penn is.
“I don’t really care, I just see a body in front of me to
tell you the truth. It doesn’t matter if he’s in shape or not. It’s gonna be
best for you guys if he’s in shape, cause it will probably be a better fight,”
MacDonald explained.
Rory also spoke about the all around skill-set that he and
Penn posses. Although Penn clearly has the experience advantage coming into the
fight “Ares” still feels that he has sharper tools than Penn in every position
of the fight game. He made it very clear that he is not afraid to fight Penn
from anywhere.
“I just think that I’m a better fighter. I’m not really
scared to fight him anywhere. He’s obviously very good on the ground, and a
good striker; you have to be competent in all areas of mixed martial arts, and
I am,” MacDonald said.
He continued by stating, “I feel
I’m a better striker, a better wrestler and better on the ground as far as MMA
jiu-jitsu. Probably not straight jiu-jitsu because we all know what he’s done
there, but I feel in a straight mixed martial arts fight, I’m a little more
well rounded than he is.”
Interesting thoughts considering Penn has been in the game
much longer than MacDonald and has almost twice as many fights. Still, it
seemed the confidence “Ares” displayed during the press UFC 154 Q&A continued
to grow as he spoke with the fans and media. He even explained some things about
Penn that were “annoying” to him, such as the VADA testing that he and BJ are
participating in prior to their fight. When asked about how the testing or even
the comments Penn was making affected him MacDonald explained that he doesn’t let
those things bother him and could care less about the head games BJ is trying
to induce.
“He’s got a lot of excuses that guy. He likes to start (expletive);
he likes to get people excited. I don’t really think about it too much. He
asked me to do the VADA random testing and I accepted it,” MacDonald explained.
“I’ll prove to him that I’m a clean fighter. At the end of the day, he can say
whatever he wants to say, get people excited, but I’m still going to beat his
ass.”
Those, my friends, are fighting words. It’s a good thing
this is going to be settled in just a couple of short weeks because it seems
that the boiling point is just about to be reached. We’ll see who truly gets
the ass-beating on December 8th at the Key Arena in Seattle,
Washington. Don’t miss it fight fans!
And for more news, updates, and information on UFC on FOX 5
stay glued to BJPenn.com and follow us on twitter @bjpenndotcom &
@jchastain45
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