How woodworking gave Michael McDonald a new lease on his fighting career
Michael McDonald has been woodworking as long as he's been in the fight game.
The bantamweight immersed himself in both a dozen years ago at just 14 years old, but it wasn't until he collected his second UFC bonus in 2011 that he opted to invest in his own shop and turn his woodworking hobby into a business. Unbeknownst to him then, the endeavor would provide some much-needed income over what soon became an injury-riddled stint in the world's top fight factory.
McDonald is no longer plagued by the financial and professional instability that prompted him to request, and obtain, his release from the UFC earlier this year. And now the Bellator newcomer relishes knowing a loss in the cage doesn't quite hold the same grave consequences it once did.
"There’s a lot less pressure," McDonald told theScore ahead of his promotional debut at Bellator 191. "There’s still pressure to win, obviously, but me and my wife have done a lot of work to take the major strain off fighting so that if I lose, we’re not losing everything. That’s literally how it used to be: if I win, I’m doing good and if I lose, I’m losing everything. I’m literally losing my house and everything I have if I lose a fight, so it was a very stressful way to live, and I’m so glad to not be in that mindset right now."
"My business is small enough, I can do business with people I enjoy and I can do business with my friends, people I love sitting down and talking to. When there’s little complications we all understand, nobody’s in a hurry. If there’s a month delay on something, (it doesn’t mean) the world is ending, and there’s a lot of urgency in people like the UFC and Bellator with getting these fights popped out."
After splitting a pair of UFC bouts in his return from a two-year layoff in 2016, McDonald opened up about the lingering effects of his inactivity and the risks associated with investing in a training camp, citing the volatility of the sport and the prevalence of fight-derailing injuries. The Modesto, Calif. native later alleged the promotion's dealings with him had been "dishonest" before asking for his walking papers in March. He signed with Bellator before the month was out.
What McDonald took umbrage with while competing under the UFC banner was its bonus structure and the fluctuation in fight night money that came with it. Simply put, "if you’re not getting bonuses in the UFC when you start off, you’re starving," said McDonald, who went from pocketing double bonuses for $130,000 total in his August 2013 stoppage of Brad Pickett to a paltry $15,000 - before taxes and expenses - in defeat to Urijah Faber four months later.
The tapout loss to Faber was followed by the layoff and burdens McDonald didn't see coming. The fighter, who'd challenged Renan Barao for a major world title just a few outings prior, was now scraping by when he should have been putting his earnings to work for him. Luckily, the trade he'd honed since high school eventually helped him right the ship.
"You’re thinking about how to invest in your life and your job, when in fact, you should not invest in anything, you need to be starving because that’s gonna last you two years. You don’t know these things, so there’s an unknown factor that makes life very, very difficult in those times of big layoffs, so I had to make a change.
"Now, woodworking pays my month-to-month bills, fighting is my supplemental income, a lot like (UFC heavyweight champion and firefighter) Stipe Miocic. A lot of these guys have another (source of) income that pays their monthly bills and it’s actually a much easier, happy lifestyle. And that’s what I’ve done."
True to McDonald's assessment of the UFC's bonus structure, it's not uncommon to see a recent promotional signee all but plead for the extra $50,000 on the mic following a win. And when it comes to being desperate for that bonus, the recent Bellator acquisition relates all too well.
"I get it, dude. Like when I fought Alex Soto, and that was on Dan Henderson vs. 'Shogun' Rua (at UFC 139), one of the greatest fights in history. I got Knockout of the Night, and when I got (it), I knew if Shogun or Henderson knocked the other out, they would’ve gotten the bonus, not me.
"So the whole time I’m watching the fight backstage, I’m freaking out because if one of them goes down - and they were going down all the time, but if they stay down - I lose my 50 grand. It’s a hectic way to make a living, especially when you put in that much work. I get it."
With such trials finally behind him, McDonald aims to channel his new lease on fighting into "creative" performances in the Bellator cage. His first opportunity to do so comes Friday in Bellator 191's headliner, opposite fellow import Peter Ligier at Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England.