UFC 130 – Michael McDonald: “I’m good enough to compete with the rest of the division now and I’m only 20 years old”

UFC bantamweight prospect, Michael McDonald has been giving his thoughts on his upcoming fight with Chris Cariaso at UFC 130 this coming weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as saying he’s good enough right now to compete with the rest of the 135 pound ranks and he’s only 20 years of age.
Speaking via Heavy.com McDonald said:

“I do feel like my last fight made a statement, but at the same time, it wasn’t the exact statement I wanted to make. I like to finish fights quickly and I definitely think the last fight was a good thing, but at the same time, not what I expected. The end result was good; I came away with the win and a Fight of the Night bonus, and I’m not one to argue with the way God wants things to turn out, but it wasn’t the result I originally intended it to be.”

“I’ve been looking at Chris for a very long time. It started a couple of years ago, back when he beat my teammate Rolando Velasco. Ever since then I’ve been watching him. During the fight with Rolando, it was very frustrating because I saw a lot of holes in Chris’s game, but I couldn’t take advantage of them because I wasn’t the one in there fighting him.”

“I saw a lot of holes that could have been exploited then, but because Chris is so good with his style, maybe those holes aren’t there anymore. Maybe his flaws are minimal, but we are just going to have to see. Stylistically, I think it’s going to be interesting. The way he fights is exactly how I like people to fight me. I definitely think I should be able to pick him apart in the stand up, and I believe that my wrestling is better than his.”

“I definitely think I can beat the other fighters in my division. Even when we were in the WEC, I looked around at the other fighters in my weight class and thought that I could not only compete with any of them, but beat them as well. I think that I am good enough to compete with them at this point in my career and I’m only 20 years old.

“I have a long ways to go before I’m the best that I can be. Right now, at the ripe old age of 20, I believe that I have the skills to compete with these guys and I really believe that I’m good enough right now to get in there with any of these guys.”

McDonald was set to reappear on the UFC 133 card on August 6^th against Nick Pace but it seems he’s ready to go and has been bumped up to this card. He is fresh off a “Fight of the Night” winning performance against Edwin Figueroa in Seattle, pulling out a clear winner on the judges scorecards.