A.J. McKee knows what it takes to win a tournament.
From 2019-21, the MMA star blazed his way through the Bellator Featherweight World Grand Prix, finishing all four of his opponents – three in the first round – en route to winning $1 million and becoming the 145-pound champion with his first-round submission of titleholder Patricio Pitbull in the final at Bellator 263 on July 31, 2021, at The Forum.
After losing the belt via decision in a rematch with Pitbull in April 2022, McKee moved up to the 155-pound division, defeated Spike Carlyle 13 months ago in his hometown of Long Beach and Roberto de Souza at the end of 2022 in Japan, and took aim on another bracket bonanza.
Only this time, just days before his first-round fight in the Bellator Lightweight World Grand Prix in July, McKee was diagnosed with a staph infection on his knee and forced to withdraw from the tournament. A highly anticipated bout with former lightweight champion and Patricio’s older brother, Patricky Pitbull, who fights Alexandr Shabliy in a tournament semifinal Friday, was left unchecked on McKee’s hit list.
Now fully healed, McKee (20-1) believes he might be able to do enough in Friday’s fight with Sidney Outlaw (17-5) – who lost his spot in the grand prix due to a positive drug test – at Bellator 301 in Chicago to slide his way back into the tournament. Questions surround the final, however, as lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov, who advanced via a unanimous decision semifinal victory over Brent Primus at Bellator 300 last month in San Diego, has since been suspended after he also tested positive for a banned substance.
The bigger uncertainty is the future of Bellator itself. Rumors have swirled of a potential sale and only churned harder after Showtime announced last month that it was getting out of the boxing and MMA games.
In an exclusive interview Thursday, the 28-year-old Long Beach Poly High graduate discussed his upcoming fight, the featherweight and lightweight tournaments, the staph infection, his opponent and what his future might look like.
Q: How do you feel going into this one?
A: Good, great. Just like the first round of the tournament for me, you know, looking to just go out there, finish this dude, make a big statement and keep my fingers crossed and hope I can get back in that tournament.
Q: We all know what you can do in a tournament. That featherweight tournament run you went on, I don’t know if there’s another MMA fighter who has had a better tournament run.
A: Yeah, I don’t even think I can honestly top that one honestly. But coming full circle, you know, this is an opportunity. I was aware that I was the alternate for this tournament when I had to pull out due to the staph infection. So it would be a very, very peculiar thing if I ended up back in the tournament and fighting in just the finals. But I mean, at the same time, I’ll have had three fights at the lightweight division, you know what I mean? I’ve proven that I can hang with the big boys. I’m hungry. And I want that hit list, you know. I don’t want just a regular world title, but I want the one with eight names on it. Especially knowing that my name is on that title.
Q: Right. And it’s been a crazy tournament. Whereas the 145-pound tournament everything pretty much went smoothly, even though there were more fighters spread out over so much time, that was pretty seamless. This tournament’s just been kind of chaotic, right?
A: It’s a bit more hectic. But things work out in mysterious ways, you know? The staph infection, I just, I swallowed that pill and it’s like you’re out of the tournament. But you know, the man upstairs works in mysterious ways. So I just stay focused on Him and stay focused on what I need to do and strange enough opportunities arise.
Q: The staph infection – were you in Nashville prior to leaving for your fight in Japan when that happened?
A: So I was in Nashville two weeks prior to the fight. I felt it Friday after training. And then I was like, I’ll be good. And then we took off Monday and when I got to Nashville on Monday, as soon as I got off the plane, I went straight to the ER and got on antibiotics. And it just got worse there in Nashville.
Q: Did you ever make your way overseas?
A: No, I didn’t even get the opportunity to go overseas. Yeah, I didn’t even get the opportunity. The plane ride over to Nashville is what pretty much told me, ‘Yeah, I’m not gonna make it.’
Q: I’ve seen your pictures of the staph infection. Explain to me a little bit how it feels and then how it progresses and how bad it got.
A: The crazy part about it, I actually caught it very early on. I caught it literally as it was as bad as it was starting to progress. So it was probably one of the most excruciating pains I felt. My glands swelled up. I could feel my heartbeat in my gland. Like I felt it initially was I had gotten an ingrown (hair). And then it was hurting. And then I was just like, ‘Now something else is wrong.’ And then when I got on that plane, that was the icing on the cake.
Q: Yeah, it’s amazing what high altitudes do to injuries and afflictions, right?
A: Yeah, it’s crazy. And then just to think that was like a four- or five-hour flight. To have to sit on a plane for 16 hours to Japan and deal with that, and then have to get there and cut weight. My dad was like, ‘Let’s be smart about this.’”
Q: What do you see in a guy like Sidney Outlaw?
A: Great wrestler. He takes any fight and fights anybody and everybody, but these are the fights that scare my father and I, just because he has nothing to lose and everything to gain, you know? So for me, I would say it’s scary a little bit.
Q: There’s a lot of talk, obviously, about Bellator and what’s going on with its future. How do you see the future of Bellator and the future of A.J. McKee?
A: This has always been my home, you know? Everybody in the organization we’ve worked diligently with and by their sides. So I have a love and a passion for everyone here and it’s … everybody’s really uncertain at the moment, which is kind of scary. Nobody knows what’s happening, what’s going on. So it’s scary, but one thing’s for sure. We’re gonna walk through the storm. Always, you know? That’s what we do. And I’m not too worried about it.
Q: That would be pretty crazy if you find a way into the tournament somehow.
A: I mean, well, that’s the thing. Usman tested positive for whatever it is. I don’t know if it’s a steroid. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but from my understanding I was an alternate when I pulled out. I am not quite sure what would be next. But like I said, if I’m not going to be in that tournament, my personal opinion would be that Brent Primus should be advanced. But I’m also still biased. I want to be back in the tournament. So I don’t really want him to be put in, especially since he did lose the chance. So I think for the entertainment aspect, it would be a crazy, crazy plot twist if they throw me into the tournament and they allow me to finish my hit list.
Bellator 301
When: Friday
Where: Wintrust Arena, Chicago
How to watch: Prelims (2 p.m., Bellator MMA YouTube channel, Showtime Sports YouTube channel, Pluto TV); main card (6 p.m. Showtime)
