Missing out on a performance bonus is the least of Jason MacDonald's concerns following his win this past Saturday at UFC 129.Staying employed is a much bigger deal.
So it was a relief for MacDonald (25-14 MMA, 6-6 UFC) when he tapped out Ryan Jensen (15-8 MMA, 2-4 UFC) with a triangle choke at the record-breaking event. He feared that after more than a year on the bench, he might feel cage rust.
Thankfully, just the opposite happened.
"Once I got in the octagon, and the door closed, and it felt like I hadn't missed a beat since last year in Montreal," MacDonald today told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio).
That's the last time the Canadian middleweight had stepped inside the cage, and it had ended badly when he broke his leg in the first round of a fight against John Salter at UFC 113.
MacDonald had struggled to stay positive over a long recovery period and had been forced to withdraw from a return fight at UFC 129 this past December. Worse yet, he felt the performances that had led to his release from the promotion – in particular a loss to Nate Quarry at UFC 97 – had been his worst to date. He needed an impressive showing.
He got that when he setup a beautiful submission from Jensen's back to the scissoring of his legs for the triangle. But he couldn't help it when his attention shifted from the win to that sweet, sweet bonus offered at the end of that night. Earlier, featherweight Pablo Garza had pulled off a rarely-seen flying triangle choke against Yves Jabouin. But, as MacDonald noted, it had taken him a while to get it done.
Could that make the difference when it came to who got a $129,000 check for "Submission of the Night"?
"We were in the same locker room, so your fingers are crossed all night that no one else gets a submission, and then it came down to him and I," MacDonald said of Garza. "I don't make the decisions and I'm not criticizing anyone's decision. Yeah, he jumped into the triangle, but he had to sit there for a while to figure out how to finish it off, and I thought on a pretty good setup and finish the fight pretty quick and not take any damage at all.
"I thought I might have had the advantage, but at the end of the day he got the bonus, and I'm happy for him."
There could have been much worse outcomes, though. He'd experienced them before.
"Obviously, Ryan Jensen was let go yesterday, so it was pretty evident that the loser of that fight was going to get his walking papers," he said. "Now, I can go from back against the wall, worrying about losing [my] job, to putting together some solid wins and ... try to get relevant again."
And that's exactly what "The Athlete" plans to do. He has no more worries about his leg. But he has to get moving. He's 36 years old and has a limited amount of time before he's no longer able to compete or gets pushed aside by emerging talent – or both.
He's at least moving in a positive direction. There was a time during his recovery that he didn't think he'd fight again. But he beat back those thoughts, and now he has an opportunity to make another run at middleweight.
The UFC often sends their fighters a little present via UPS after events, as well, so he might still get a cherry on top of his impressive performance.
"I think the biggest part about getting in there and ring rust is not so much the fight itself," MacDonald said. "Because you do that fight 100 times through training camp.
"It's just the walkout to the octagon. Getting in the octagon. All that nervous energy that goes with getting in the ring in front of all those people. I think that's really where the ring rust comes into play. You're nervous about performing."
And now that the performing part is over, he can get better for his next fight.
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