Let’s take a look at Zuffa’s youngest employee, Michael McDonald. McDonald is a nineteen-year-old bantamweight fighter, who had his first WEC bout Thursday. He is new to the Zuffa banner but he’s no amatuer when it comes to mixed martial arts. McDonald is a California native, and has wins against Manny Tapia and former WEC FeatherweightChampion, Cole Escovedo. He became the Tachi Palace Fighting Championship with his win over Escovedo. Scoring these two victories got him pulled up to the WEC to fight on the preliminary bouts on November 11th.

Now, you may be thinking, why are you wasting my time on this? Well, quit your moaning because this kid has a decent submission game! McDonald holds a brown belt in BJJ. He used some of that submissions skill to elicit the tap from opponent Clint Godfrey at WEC 52. The reason I brought this up is that McDonald FINALLY capitalizes on a error that I seehave seen to many fighters getting away with.

Right around the 2:25 point of round 1 Godfrey is in McDonald’s guard and reaches up and grabs behind McDonald’s head. Now, if you are a beginner in BJJ, this is what we call a “no-no”. The good news is, McDonald gives us a good display of why not to do it. Instantly, he turns sideways and hurls the leg over. Game, set, and match. McDonald uses a strategy that most people learn in the beginning of jiu jitsu class to get a $6,000 payday. Not a bad day, notably for a nineteen-year-old. McDonald is definitely on the rise and we hope the best and just maybe, more submissions victories down the road. McDonald has been listed as one of the top 25 fighters under 25. Quite a statement and we tend to agree with the article.