Ever since Rory MacDonald fought to a draw against Jon Fitch and said he can’t pull the trigger anymore and he doesn’t have the killer instinct anymore. So, many thought his fighting future was up in the air.
Yet, in his next fight, he put all that behind him and beat Neiman Gracie by decision to advance to the finals where he will take on Douglas Lima. For his coach, Firas Zahabi, he can’t see MacDonald retiring after Bellator 232 and the conclusion of the welterweight grand prix.
“Let’s say he won a million and retired, I feel like personally he’s going to come back even if he doesn’t need the money,” Zahabi said to MMA Junkie. “That’s just where I feel he’s at. He’s going to miss fighting if he ever hangs it up. In my opinion he has a lot more fight left in him. Before the Neiman (Gracie) fight people were like, ‘Did he just retire?’ That’s not what he said.
“Fighters are emotional after a fight. Some of them do retire for real. It does happen, but it also swings the other way. You start feeling like you want to go back in. Georges [St-Pierre] at one point retired, he wasn’t sure and he came back to win the world title. I never count them out, personally I never count that out.”
Whether or not this will be the end for Rory MacDonald is to be seen, but Firas Zahabi doesn’t believe it will be.
