"It's become a cliché for losing fighters to justify the experience as a positive, saying that it led them back to a reborn sense of motivation. For MacDonald, though, whether it's the surprising honesty with which he spoke, or the hint of anger caught in his throat, the sentiment appears very real indeed.

"'Everything was coming very easy for me the last three years since losing to Carlos (Condit). The fights were going very smoothly, and I just felt like, wow, it's becoming very easy. So I kind of let my guard down a bit," he said.

"'I needed to lose. I needed to get into a hard fight. I'm very motivated, more than ever now. I'm very hungry. I feel like I have that fire back."

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