Rory MacDonald Makes PFL Debut, Headlines April 29 Event vs. David Michaud

Rory MacDonald will finally make his highly-anticipated Professional Fighters League debut in the main event of the promotion’s April 29 event against David Michaud.

The PFL announced the bout, along with the full card for its second 2021 regular season event, on Tuesday. The lineup will feature welterweights and light heavyweights, with the main card airing on ESPN2 and the prelims streaming via ESPN+.

The rest of the main card lineup is as follows: Ray Cooper III vs. Jason Ponet at welterweight; Jordan Johnson vs. Tom Lawlor at light heavyweight; and Emiliano Sordi vs. Chris Camozzi at light heavyweight.

Meanwile, the preliminary draw will feature a total of six contests: Magomed Magomedkerimov vs. Joao Zeferino at welterweight; Smealinho Rama vs. Jordan Young at light heavyweight; Cezar Ferreira vs. Nick Roehrick at light heavyweight; Gleison Tibau vs. Alexey Kunchenko at welterweight; Sadibou Sy vs. Nikolay Aleksakhin at welterweight; and Dan Spohn vs. Marthin Hamlet at light heavyweight.

A former Bellator 170-pound champion and UFC title challenger, MacDonald signed with PFL after losing to Douglas Lima in the finals of Bellator’s welterweight grand prix. “The Red King” also challenged for gold in the UFC, falling to Robbie Lawler via fifth-round TKO in July 2015. MacDonald’s resume includes wins over the likes of Lima, Paul Daley, Tyron Woodley, Demian Maia, B.J. Penn and Nate Diaz, to name a few.

A three-time UFC veteran, Michaud reached the 170-pound finals for PFL in 2019, where he fell to Cooper via second-round technical knockout. The MMA Lab representative is 18-6 as a professional with stints in Bellator, Legacy Fighting Alliance, Combate Americas and Titan FC to his credit as well.