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Kelowna  

Rory looks to make history

Local mixed martial arts champion Rory MacDonald will be looking to make history in September when he squares off against another champion.

Thursday morning, ESPN reported MacDonald, the current Bellator welterweight champion, will fight middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi on Sept. 29 in San Jose, Calif.

MacDonald moved from the UFC to the Viacom-owned Bellator promotion in August 2016, a decision his coach David Lea said was largely a financial decision.

The 28 year old began training in MMA when he was just 14 years old, out of Kelowna's Toshido MMA under the direction of David Lea.

While he moved to Montreal in 2010 to train with UFC veteran Georges St. Pierre at the Tristar Gym, he has since moved back to Kelowna, with Lea taking back the head coach position.

The change has proven successful, with two straight wins and a championship belt to show for it.

Lea says he will be MacDonald's head trainer for the upcoming bout. 

MacDonald took the welterweight belt from Douglas Lima earlier this year, in a closely-fought, five-round decision.

Mousasi, a 32-year-old Dutch fighter who also fought in the UFC before moving to Bellator, won the Bellator middleweight title last month.

Mousasi's belt will be on the line in September, with the fight with MacDonald taking place in the 185-pound middleweight division.

A win would see MacDonald become the first Bellator fighter to hold two division belts at the same time. In 2016, Conor McGregor became the first two-division champion in the UFC.



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