TORONTO -- This is the UFC 129 live blog for Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald, a welterweight bout on tonight's Spike TV portion of the card at the Rogers Centre.Diaz (13-6) fought earlier in January and lost to Dong Hyun Kim via unanimous decision. MacDonald (10-1) is coming off the first loss of his career, a TKO at the hands of Carlos Condit at UFC 115 last June.
The live blog is below.
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Round 1: These should be a great fight between two intense competitors. Diaz comes forward early, MacDonald circling away. McDonald throwing some high kicks early and Diaz throwing out his left hand. Diaz initiates a clinch against the fence. MacDonald turns it around. They go quickly to the ground, but soon back up. Half the round gone. Superman punch for MacDonald doesn't land clean. MacDonald is circling and Diaz throws his hands up as if to goad him. MacDonald pushes him against the fence. They're back to the center with 1:00 left. Diaz ducks under a punch and tries a takedown but MacDonald stuffs him. MacDonald lands a right hook as they move away from the clinch. The horn sounds and Diaz says something in MacDonald's ear as he walks back to his corner. Close round, 10-9 MacDonald.
Round 2: Diaz starting to turn up the pressure early in the round. He lands a couple of lefts to the body. MacDonald took him down and landed a couple ground strikes. Back to their feet, and MacDonald powered him down again. MacDonald stood up in his guard and gave him space, and Diaz used an upkick to get back to his feet. MacDonald lands a let uppercut out of a clinch. Diaz with a right hand and left to the body as we have two minutes remaining. Diaz muscles him into the corner and lands a left. MacDonald works free and moves to the center of the cage. MacDonald landed a left knee, then a flying knee moments later. Diaz countered with a right hook. This one was also close, but MacDonald had the more impactful strikes, 10-9.
Round 3: MacDonald has come close to landing a head kick several times. A clean one would end it, but Diaz is quick. MacDonald slam suplexed Diaz twice in a row within 30 seconds, bringing the crowd to their feet. He landed a hard shot from the top. Diaz got up and MacDonald again ragdolled him with another suplex slam. The "Waterboy" is coming out now. Diaz tries to pull guard, but MacDonald is too well schooled and one step ahead, and feeds Diaz some punches for his trouble. It's all MacDonald. He's letting it all go in the third, peppering Diaz from the top. You don't see either of the Diaz boys getting dominated like this. It was controlled aggression for the first two rounds for MacDonald, and domination in the third.
Winner: Rory MacDonald via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
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