Issue 158
September 2017
Why A.J. McKee is not just the most exciting prospect ever produced in Bellator, he’s one of the best emerging talents in all of MMA.
“I’m in shape, I train every day with my son. I knew he was going to be a fighter since he came out of the f**king womb. This kid is just tough. Bellator, you guys have no idea what you’re dealing with. If you watch him when he gets hurt and he gets mad, the fight’s over in a minute. Every fight.” - ANTONIO McKEE
Bellator featherweight
Alias: Mercenary,
Team: Bodyshop,
Record: 30-6-2.
There have been more fighters than you can count who were said to be ‘born to fight’.
They’re usually the blood-and-guts warriors that put it all on the line and throw down. The trouble is, a lot of these guys don’t have any hope of actually making it anywhere near a world title.
Antonio McKee Jr – A.J. to you and me – is different. He was born to fight (no quotation marks necessary) and raised to fight in an environment where MMA is the family business.
The 22-year-old is the son of Antonio McKee, the outspoken owner of Team Bodyshop, who began his fighting career when the sport wasn’t sanctioned and the UFC couldn’t even release their bouts on home video.
He amassed a 29-6-2 record fighting all over the world, but while his peers went out to party after fights, he went home to train his son.
“He’s the creator, he taught me everything,” says McKee Jr. “You get guys who roll out of bed in the morning with their knees hurting. My dad’s 47 and I still train with him every day.”
He also admits his old man is the last person he wants to spar with at the end of a session – because his skills are still that sharp. Not that he shies away from going hard in practice.
He explains: “If you don’t put in that work it doesn’t matter how long you’ve done it, how long you’ve trained, who you are, who anyone is, the work has to be put in, in that gym, and that’s one place I can say I’ll push myself literally until I pass out. My dad has to ask me to stop training.
"I’ll go round after round. He’ll say to take a break and I’ll be like, ‘No, one more.’”
Years of hard work paid off and by the time he was 18, A.J. was a promising fighter on the SoCal amateur circuit. So promising in fact, Bellator decided he didn’t need any professional experience before he made his bow in its cage three days after he turned 20.
Two years later, he’s 8-0 with six finishes thanks to stylish striking and a grappling game built on physical dominance.
The ‘Mercenary’ is lightning in a bottle – as demonstrated by his head kick KO of Dominic Mazzotta after 75 seconds in his last outing.
As the son of someone who valued self-preservation in his fights and won 21 by decision, it might surprise some to see this young man going hell for leather in bouts.
But this is one of the few aspects of the game in which the apple has fallen a distance away from the tree.
“There was a lot of controversy about my style,” says Antonio Sr. “Because I’m the superior wrestler and I developed a style to just wrestle and punish people from the ground, I wasn’t interested in the striking.
"But the system that he’s using… Man, when people figure out what he’s doing, it’s going to be too f**king late. Conor (McGregor) almost has it, but he can’t shift to both sides.
"A.J. actually can fight left or right. His movement… if you notice, he doesn’t get hit and he’s not going to get hit. He really understands."
“Right now, he knows what he’s doing but he doesn’t feel it. You know how you can dance to a song because you know the moves as opposed to dancing because you’ve got the rhythm? The rhythm with it is different. Right now, he doesn’t have the rhythm. He knows the moves, but he doesn’t have the rhythm. Once he gets the rhythm, he’s going to f**k everybody up.”
“All I know how to be is exciting,” A.J. adds with pride. “My third fight, I had 20 stitches. I got that for $4,000. My kids are going to look at that and ask why I got my face split open for $4,000. You idiot!”
The fight against Mazzotta was what we’ve come to expect from McKee.
He was back to his finishing ways with unstoppable striking. But his critics – his dad among them – say he should be 8-0 with eight finishes.
His previous two fights were disappointing by the lofty standards he’s set for himself.
“Before, I kind of just saw it as fighting – this is what I do, it’s fun. But after my last couple of fights – the boring fights, as my dad would say – it was just realizing this isn’t just what you do, this is your lifestyle.
He asked me if I ever planned on working a job. A job? What’s that? I’m not a good person to take commands. I always want to be the person that’s starting something and trying out new things.
“He said I need to take fighting 110% serious, so this last fight, there are some things I decided to leave alone and told him, ‘You tell me I’m going to be a champion in one year, I’m giving you nothing but dedication for this one year.’
"It’s good to be on track now and know that’s going to be the result and the ending of literally anyone they put in front of me as long as I keep my mind clear and stay focused on the prize.”
That, he says, is the target by the end of 2017. The aim is to win a belt at a younger age than Jon Jones – to date, still the UFC’s youngest champion at 23.
"From there, the plan is to be the “Mayweather of MMA.”
But before all that, there’s one more piece of business to take care of.
The fight fans want to see is McKee vs. James Gallagher, the other young 145lb prospect feeling the benefit of a big Bellator publicity push.
The pair have exchanged unpleasantries on social media, in interviews and in person, and created a buzz for a grudge match between talents hand-picked for stardom in Scott Coker’s organization. Not that it’ll be a contest, if the American is to be believed. But it won’t stop him fighting ‘The Strabanimal’.
“All the dudes I fought would whup his ass,” McKee says. “I keep finishing them and people think they’re just feeding me people, too. It’s not that. People just haven’t realized how good I am yet. Honestly, I’m not even close to my potential.
“It’s a fight the people are beginning to request. It’s supply and demand, it’s entertainment, it’s business. You give the people what they want, the people give the organization what they want.”
So does that mean that on top of all his talent and potential, A.J. McKee is a man of the people, too?
“Not to be an asshole to the people – it’s not for the people, it’s for my family,” he says. “It’s for the benefit of my family. I want them to have that big house, seven-eight car garage. I want my cars. I want a car for every day of the month. I love cars, guns and speed. That’s just right up my alley. It’s motivation.
“Money doesn’t buy you happiness, but it brings comfort. As long as you live comfortably, that’s all that really matters. That and your family.”
With paternal guidance, it would be no surprise to see this young gun become one of the best mixed martial artists ever.
Whether he’s still in the same fighting shape as his dad when he’s approaching his half-century is another matter. “I hope. S**t, I might enjoy the money when I get it a little too much,” he laughs.
RIDING THE MONEY TRAIN
McKee has revealed he’s one of the men Floyd Mayweather has approached to train with to prepare for Conor McGregor, due to their physical and stylistic similarities.
“He’s a southpaw that throws a lot, only he doesn’t move as much as me,” McKee explains.
And will the undefeated boxer beat MMA’s biggest attraction in his view?
“If he trains with me, for sure.”
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