Antonio McKee believes his son A.J. McKee is the best in the world and hopes a day will come where fighters can prove it by crossing promotional lines to unify titles.
At Bellator 263, A.J. made quick work of former champ-champ Patricio Freire by securing a first-round submission win via guillotine choke after rocking him with strikes along the fence. The win crowned McKee the winner of the featherweight grand prix in addition to becoming the division’s champion.
His father, Antonio, who is the head coach of Team Bodyshop MMA where his son and other high-level fighters train, believed the fight would be easy. Now that the job has been accomplished, he has called for the biggest promotions in the world to come together to let the fighters determine who is truly the best fighter.
“We all know the UFC doesn’t have the best fighters in the world,” McKee told MMA Junkie Radio. “They don’t. I’m sorry to say. This is why we’re trying to push for some type of union to unify these belts.”
An ongoing debate in MMA circles is which promotion has the best fighters. It creates interesting conversations and makes for fun fantasy matchups, but what if the sport eventually gets to a point where we no longer have to wonder what would happen if UFC champions faced Bellator champions?
“It’s just not fair that we call this a sport, but yet we have an organization that will pay my son $1 million dollars and you have another organization that only wants to pay him $100,000, but this is how he makes a living?” McKee questioned. “This isn’t right. So, let’s unify belts. Let’s let these promotions take over the promoting part, and let’s let these fighters take on the fighting part and let them do what they’re capable of doing, and let’s unify the belts.
“I’ve already talked to Scott Coker. Scott Coker is down with it, but why won’t the UFC do it? Why? Because it would water down the brand of the UFC when you’ve got fighters coming from Bellator over beating the crap out of the guys from the UFC.”
Ultimately, McKee wants to prove to the world that his son is the best featherweight competitor on the planet, regardless of promotion.
“We know that A.J. is the best fighter in the world. It’s not a question of it.”
Watch the full interview with McKee where he touches on a range of topics involving the next steps for his son in the video below.