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Michael McDonald Discusses His Return After Two-Year Layoff

November 23, 2015 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

Michael McDonald spoke with MMAjunkie about returning to the Octagon after a two-year layoff at UFC 195 in January. Check out the highlights:

On maturing as a fighter: “Now it makes perfect sense to me that the only purpose for breaking down your body is to build it back up. You need to put equal time into that.”

On the damage his fists have taken over the years: “As hard as I could punch with these $15 Title gloves, no hand wraps, stuff like that. I would just be blasting these pads. My hands never hurt, so it was never a big deal.”

On growing discontent with his place in the UFC after he was forced to the sidelines due to surgery on his wrist and hand: “The more you go into it, the more you’re like, man, this is isn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be. This isn’t like I thought my life would be as a professional athlete. It would be the same as if you’re a salesman and you wake up one day and you’re like, man, a lot of my day is just coaching people into giving me money. That’s kind of weird. Am I sure I want to be doing this for the rest of my life?”

On his current condition: “I’m not joking when I say this is the best I’ve ever felt…Most people don’t even get signed until they’re older than I am, so I’m not in a hurry. That’s how I hurt myself.”

On dealing with nerves after his layoff: “Sometimes I have chills, sometimes I have to piss every three minutes, and sometimes I can’t sit still and my stomach feels a little uneasy. And so I don’t really have an expectation of what it’s going to be when I come back, but I know that the correct mindset isn’t the more you fight, the more comfortable you are. Because the fight is the work; the fight is in the test. The work is in the gym. It’s just you and another guy in a cage, and I don’t know how many thousands of times I’ve done that in my life now.”