Michael McDonald Set To Meet Masenori Kanehara At UFC 195

Despite having not competed in two years, No. 8-ranked bantamweight, and former interim title challenger Michael “Mayday” McDonald is finally making his return to action.

McDonald recently said that he wouldn’t continue to fight if he wasn’t paid right, but it seems as if he has changed his tune, as he’s now set to take on Masenori Kanehara at January 2’s UFC 195 from Las Vegas, per MMAFighting.com

“Mayday” is coming off of a December 2013 loss at the hands of Urijah Faber, but has impressively won five out of his seven UFC bouts, with his only other loss being to former champion Renan Barao.

At just 24-years-old, McDonald still has a ton of time left to become an elite level fighter as many predicted he would be. His return could also provide a spark to a division desperately lacking energy and contenders.

As far as his opponent goes, Kanehara is just 1-1 inside of the Octagon, owing a win over Alex Caceres, while dropping a loss to Rani Yahya. Fighting McDonald will provide an extremely stiff test for the Japanese competitor.

UFC 195 is shaping up to be quite an exciting card, as it will be headlined by a hotly-anticipated welterweight title showdown between champion Robbie Lawler and former interim champion Carlos Condit. Top heavyweights Andrei Arlovski and Stipe Miocic will do battle as well as lightweights Dustin Poirier and Joseph Duffy.

What do you expect of McDonald’s return?