MMA legend Rory MacDonald has just made a return to competition at the ADCC Niagara Open 2025, winning gold in the under 91kg division. It’s the first time that MacDonald has stepped on the mats for a grappling match in a long time, and he’s even been retired from MMA for several years now as well. MacDonald was one of the top welterweights in the world for quite some time and his Jiu-Jitsu was a big part of that success. He is a BJJ black belt under David Lea and submitted several fighters throughout his career; including finishes in most of the top promotions around.
MacDonald dominated the regional MMA scene in Canada before being called up to the UFC back in 2010; where he first became famous and even fought for the welterweight world title. MacDonald left the UFC when he decided to leave for Bellator and not only did he win their welterweight title, but he also moved up in weight to challenge for the middleweight title as well. MacDonald finished out his career with the PFL, making two runs in their welterweight tournaments before finally calling it a day at PFL 8 in 2022 and retiring from MMA with a 23-10-1 professional record and 16 finishes.
That was the last time that anyone saw MacDonald in action, but he recently decided to test himself against some of Canada’s finest after three years away. MacDonald competed in the adult division despite being 36 and won both of his matches on points. He beat fellow black belts Kenny Bhullar and Dylan Freedman without conceding a single point, winning 3-0 and 2-0 respectively. It’s unclear at the moment whether this was just a little detour for MacDonald to have some fun competing, or if he plans on taking bigger matches in the future. Top European promotion Polaris left the cryptic comment ‘see you soon’ on his Instagram post though, so something might be in the works there.
The full ADCC Niagara Open 2025 event replay, including Rory MacDonald winning gold, is available to watch on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
