To prepare, Doerksen has devoted a full 11 weeks toward a training camp -- a stint almost unheard of for him. His last fight, a loss to Ed Herman (Pictures) at UFC 78, was taken with only a week's notice.
Doerksen spent his time training strength and conditioning every morning, and in the evenings he honed his cage skills with coach Giuseppe DeNatale and training partners Chris Fontaine and Rodrigo Munduruca at Winnipeg's Canadian Kickboxing & Muay Thai Centre.
"Chris Fontaine is an experienced fighter and tough as nails, and Rodrigo is the same height as MacDonald but has 80 more pounds of weight on him," Doerksen said. "He's a black belt in jiu-jitsu and he's also competent on his feet as well."
As for DeNatale, Doerksen has nothing but praise: "Years ago before I started training with him, I'd taken a few losses and I was very seriously considering giving up the sport. I didn't feel that I was able to compete at the highest level anymore, and someone suggested that I start training with him. I met him and started training at his gym, and honestly, the first two or three years we knew each other, we didn't really talk a whole lot. But I've been with him for six years now, and I think it's made a big difference. I honestly think that it's changed the course of my career."
At this elite level, fighters would be foolish to go into battle without having an idea of how they will win the fight. Strategy has become an integral part to every successful fighter's preparations, and against MacDonald, Doerksen knows exactly what he's going to do and why he's going to do it.
"Watching [MacDonald's] UFC fights, he looks very comfortable when he's got control either standing or pinning a guy up against the fence or on the ground in top position trying to ground-and-pound, but he doesn't typically seem to do as well when he's the one being pressured or when he's taking punishment," Doerksen said. "So the game plan is very simple -- to punch him as much as possible and don't let him get any kind of position where he's able to control the fight."
But there's more to the plan than that.
"I want to keep active and, especially in the beginning, to keep it on the feet as much as possible," Doerksen said. "Not to say that I'm not comfortable on the ground because I think everyone knows that I am, but I really want to make him as uncomfortable as possible, and I think that by keeping it on the feet is the best way of doing that."
If this game plan is as effective as he thinks it will be, Doerksen expects to shock more than a few people.
"I really think that if I come out aggressive like we trained, I could very, very possibly finish him off in the first round," he remarked confidently. "Either knock him out or submit him or get the referee to stop the fight."
Doerksen also said it is an honor that the UFC asked him to compete on its first Canadian card.
"I've been working very hard the past two and a half months, and I didn't do all that work to go out there and put up half a fight," he said. "I definitely feel like now is my time for me to go out there and show the world what I can do."
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