Will Rory MacDonald get UFC title shot before Matt Brown-Robbie Lawler winner?

With a convincing win against a fellow contender, did Rory MacDonald do enough to cut the line and get the next UFC welterweight title shot?

Heading into Saturday’s UFC 174 pay-per-view co-headliner in Vancouver, MacDonald (17-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) and opponent Tyron Woodley (13-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) were told they were second in the queue. Up first, UFC President Dana White said, would be the winner of next month’s UFC on FOX 12 headliner between Matt Brown (19-11 MMA, 12-5 UFC) and Robbie Lawler (23-10 MMA, 8-4 UFC).

Did MacDonald’s UFC 174 victory, which saw him neutralize Woodley and earn a convincing 30-27 unanimous-decision victory (watch the MacDonald vs. Woodley video highlights), make White change his mind?

The UFC boss was impressed, but it doesn’t sound like the Canadian fighter forced a change of plans.

“I liked the way he fought tonight, and I liked his interview after,” White told FOX Sports 1's post-UFC 174 show. “The kid is coming into his own. He’a great.

“Matt Brown, Robbie Lawler – the winner of that fight gets the next title shot.”

It puts MacDonald in a peculiar position. With newly crowned champ Johny Hendricks still recovering from a torn bicep, his fight with the Brown-Lawler winner doesn’t have an exact date. That could mean MacDonald will be waiting well into 2015 if he opts not to take another bout.

However, one potential option, as MMAjunkie’s Mike Bohn noted in the his post-UFC 174 Joe Silva’s Shoes columns, is a late-year fight against the winner of an August UFC Fight Night 48 bout between Hector Lombard (34-4-1 MMA, 3-2 UFC) and Dong Hyun Kim (19-2-1 MMA, 10-2 UFC).

Regardless, MacDonald certainly improved his stock in the division – as well as with UFC brass (even if the fighter’s in no hurry to claim superstar status).

“My thing with Rory was – if I have to criticize him tonight – I would have to say he had him hurt there, he had him literally wobbling with that right hand he hit him with, and just sort of stood on the outside and was shaking him arms,” White said. “I don’t like that stuff. Go in there and try to finish him. … But he looked awesome tonight.”

For complete coverage of UFC 174, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

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MMAjunkie’s John Morgan recaps the UFC 174 card, including the biggest surprises and disappointments:

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