Antonio Carlos Jr and Rory MacDonald PFL 5 Media Day quotes

PFL 5 takes place on Thursday, June 17th and it all goes down live at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I spoke with Antonio Carlos Jr and Rory MacDonald at the PFL media day ahead of their respective prizefights.

Antonio Carlos Jr and Rory MacDonald

Carlos Jr takes on Vinny Magalhaes in a consequential light heavyweight fight.

MacDonald tests skills opposite Gleison Tibau in the welterweight main event bout at 170 pounds.

Antonio Carlos Jr

I noticed there was an Instagram post a bit ago where you were training with Buchecha.

I’m kind of wondering what the experience has been like training with him and how he’s been adapting to getting into the MMA ranks?

“Yeah, Buchecha has been my friend for a very long time you know. He just started in MMA but he’s doing very good. He doesn’t have a fight yet. I think he probably gonna be fighting late-July or August. I don’t really know actually. But he’s so talented, you know. He’s a great of all time, 13 times world champion. He got everything so easy, so fast. I think he’s gonna do great in MMA. As he did in jiu-jitsu. And it’s been great, man.”

“We’re always helping each other you know. We’re very good friends. He’s living in my house. Now, that he moved to Florida in order to train at American Top Team. And it’s just great, you know. I got somebody to push me on the floor, you know. His game is awesome, man.”

Rory MacDonald

I was noticing that we’re a couple of days removed from the 11 year anniversary of your fight with Carlos Condit. When I spoke with David Lea he was talking about how that was the loudest crowd he had ever heard. He spoke very favorably of just what you were able to do to grow BC MMA and by proxy Canadian mixed martial arts.

What are your recollections of that fight with Carlos Condit and just the residual fallout from it?

“Yeah, that was an incredible experience. Still to this day, it’s the loudest arena I’ve ever been in. For my fight or any other fight, I couldn’t believe it. To be honest, when I was going out to that fight like before I was walking out I didn’t expect anybody to know me. It was my second fight in the UFC. But I think when they said that I was from British Columbia, and we were fighting in Vancouver. I think that’s (when) the crowd blew up. That I was, you know, somewhat of a hometown guy.”

“So, that was totally taken by surprise. And I was just flooded with emotion and adrenaline. I honestly couldn’t even hear myself think. It was the loudest experience in my life. And obviously, fighting a guy like Carlos Condit at that point in my career was like a huge step up. So, it was just like adrenaline to the max. I wasn’t in my right mind, or focus. I was just riding on an adrenaline high like I’ve never had before.”

Jun12.2010

After losing the first two rounds,

Carlos Condit comes back & finishes Rory MacDonald with 7 seconds remaining in the fight pic.twitter.com/DpubUBttdU

— MMA History Today (@MMAHistoryToday) June 13, 2021

Dylan Bowker

I've been enamored with combat sports for as long as I can remember. I've hosted MMA talk shows Lights Out and Pure Fight Radio with featured guests like Jens Pulver, Roy Nelson, Miesha Tate, Mark Coleman, and more. I've been an MMA broadcaster for XFFC as well as BTC and have done play by play commentary on live pay per view on GFL as well as FITE TV. I've provided written, audio, and video content covering some of the biggest MMA promotions like Rumble in the Cage, Unified MMA, and King of the Cage. I've worked as a sports entertainment personality for over five years and given play-by-play or featured promotions of KSW, ONE Championship, TKO, and Invicta FC. My work can be found in the USA Today Sports affiliate MMA Torch, Cageside Press, MMA Sucka, and Liberty Multimedia.

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