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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
"I know the reason why Rory [MacDonald] pulled out on September 22. The cut is a detail but I know the reason why he pulled out is because he knew he wasn't gonna win. If he let that cut heal, tried to train, whatever it was, whether he should have been in shape already... I've never heard of a guy pulling out of a fight 10 weeks early from a cut. Never in my life have I heard of a guy, 10 weeks before a fight, he got cut, he pulled out. You know what I mean?
He feels he has to to what's best for him, for his team, they're gonna do that, but it's 100 percent fact that the reason why they pulled out is because they knew they were gonna lose on September 22nd. If not, you wouldn't pull out, you would go. Like I said, I had a cut on my eye, 13 stitches inside and out five weeks before the Diaz fight. Didn't care. Opened up from eight weeks every week all the way up to the fifth week before the Diaz fight but did I ever think about pulling out? Not even once."
-B.J. Penn talks to Sherdog.com (transcribed by MMAMania.com) about Rory MacDonald pulling out of UFC 152 next month. The two will now meet in December at UFC on Fox 5.
Penick's Analysis: Well, considering the cut meant MacDonald can't spar for a considerable amount of time, he would have felt that UFC 152 was too early to be fully prepared for a fight. Hell, with the amount of time he's supposed to go without sparring, he essentially wouldn't get his first licks in until Sept. 22. So Penn might be right that MacDonald thought he wouldn't win on that date, but I'd say it's because he wouldn't have been able to prepare for what is the biggest fight of his career. It shouldn't be held against him that he wants to be fully prepared for this fight against Penn, and Penn comes off as petty in this type of commentary. The two will still fight, and this time around they'll both have plenty of time to be fully prepared.
[B.J. Penn art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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