Rory MacDonald's official Bellator debut has been a highly anticipated affair since FloCombat broke the news the talented Canadian welterweight had signed with the promotion last August. 

The buzz only amplified with it was announced "The Red King" would be facing notorious British smashing machine Paul Daley in his first showing under his new promotional banner and the clash of hard-charging welterweights would go down in the main event of Bellator 179 in London. The date many in the MMA world finally arrived on Friday evening, and questions lingered as to which version of the Firas Zahabi-trained fighter would show up to fight.

Did his wars inside the Octagon claim the best years MacDonald had to give, or would a fresh start inside the Bellator cage be exactly that? It took less than two rounds of work for MacDonald to not only prove the latter was true, but that he's a certified title threat in the process. The British Columbia worked an efficient game plan and capped off a strong performance by submitting Daley via rear-naked choke in the second round.

With the victory, MacDonald is now set to face the winner of the bout between champion Douglas Lima and Lorenz Larkin, which is slated to take place at Bellator NYC next month in Madison Square Garden.

Bellator 179 Full Results:

Rory MacDonald def. Paul Daley via submission (rear-naked choke), Round 2
Linton Vassell def. Liam McGeary via submission (arm triangle), Round 3
Cheick Kongo def. Augusto Sakai via split decision (28-29, 29,28, 29-28)
K. Ferguson Jr. def. DJ Griffin via TKO (strikes), Round 1
Alex Lohore def. Dan Vinni via TKO (strikes), Round 2,

Preliminary Card

Stav Economou def. Dan Konecke via submission (guillotine), Round 1, 1:05
Amir Albazi defeats Jamie Powell via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-26)
Nathan Jones def. Umer Kayani via submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 4:35
Fabian Edwards def. Rafał Cejrowski via KO (flying knee), Round 1, 3:44
Jeremy Petley def. Chase Morton via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-26)
Mike Shipman def. Marcin Prostko via TKO (knees), Round 1, 2:39
Salih Kulucan def. Diego Barbosa via submission (heel hook), Round 1