Rory MacDonald was in top form tonight at UFC 174 as he shut down Tryon Woodley with his pressure fighting and precision striking in the first two rounds before even mixing in some mat work in the final five minutes.
Round One:
MacDonald presses forward to start and throws a front kick that just misses. Woodley moving forward, but not for long – it’s MacDonald who’s taking the center of the cage early.
Woodley looks to clinch up in the middle of the Octagon and slowly moves his opponent across to the cage. Woodley landing a few knees from the clinch and foot stomps for good measure.
MacDonald with a couple knees of his own. More knees for Woodley and then MacDonald gets out.
MacDonald pumping out the jab and then tries the Brazilian kick. Woodley responds with a nice body kick.
MacDonald still pushing the pace here and tries to land another high kick that Woodley almost catches.
Nice body kick from MacDonald. Woodley presses forward looking for a takedown and MacDonald counters with a knee and punches.
Undeterred, Woodley gets into the clinch against the cage. MacDonald gets out and lands a couple of kicks, but then Woodley gets in and lands a hard punch and forces a takedown, but MacDonald is right back up and applying pressure again with kicks.
Nice punch to the body and another kick as MacDonald keeps Woodley with his back to the cage.
Finally Woodley presses forward with punches of his own, but then he backs away again and MacDonald is the one unleashing more offensive output. Final seconds of the round and MacDonald caps off the round with a nice flurry of punches. Confident showing for him in the opening round.
Round Two:
MacDonald with a nice rangey jab to start as he looks to continue to dictate the action in this fight. Superman punch and then an axe kick attempt that doesn’t pay off.
MacDonald reaches for a single leg, but doesn’t get the takedown. Nice leg kick for Woodley, and then another one.
However, MacDonald is still taking the center of the Octagon and Woodley is back to having his back against the cage.
Hard leg kick from Woodley, but then MacDonald pieces together a few nice combinations of punches and kicks.
Multiple punch combo from MacDonald, really piecing together his strikes well at this stage in the fight. Front kick to the body from MacDonald and Woodley catches it.
MacDonald gets his limb free though and MacDonald continues. Woodley looks a bit bamboozled at this stage and isn’t offering much here other than the occasional leg kick.
A few body shots and then one to the head from MacDonald. Approaching a minute to go and he goes upstairs with a head kick.
Woodley with a couple of jabs. Right hand lands for MacDonald. More body shots now and a nice jab. Left and then a hard right.
MacDonald showboating a little as he fakes punches. Woodley tries to keep him at bay by just feeling out with his jab. Another big round for MacDonald.
Round Three:
MacDonald with a jab and Woodley comoes forward with a flurry of punches. Another hard shot wings past MacDonald’s head.
Woodley lands a nice shot, but MacDonald is right back on him and starts to put him on the back foot again.
Body kick lands for MacDonald. Woodley tries a kick to the body, but MacDonald catches it.
Spinning back kick to the body from MacDonald and Woodley complains it was low, but the ref doesn’t allow a stoppage.
Nice body strike from MacDonald. In the center of the cage now and MacDonald manages to land a takedown. MacDonald locked down in Woodley’s guard with half the round to go.
Woodley doing a good job of tying up MacDonald’s arms here to prevent him from landing any ground and pound. MacDonald’s happy here though since he’s clearly winning the fight.
MacDonald postures and stands over his opponent and Woodley tries to catch him with upkicks. MacDonald drops back down, then up again and eventually manages to step in and get into the mount. Not for long, but he settles for side control.
30 seconds to go and MacDonald starts landing repeated left hand punches to his opponent’s face as the fans cheer loudly until the final buzzer sounds.
Decision
Excellent display from MacDonald and he earns a clean sweep on the judges scorecards (30-27 x3).
