Terrance McKinney isn’t discouraged by his loss to Drew Dober at UFC Fight Night 203.
McKinney (12-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC) seemed to have victory in the bag on Saturday when he instantly rocked Dober (24-11 MMA, 11-6 UFC) to start their lightweight fight at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. He spent more than two minutes putting a beating on his opponent, landing knees, kicks, and punches, and getting to the brink of a finish on multiple occasions.
But then McKinney completely fell apart. Dober’s durability allowed him to survive the initial onslaught, then he turned the tables and got an advantageous position over McKinney on the mat that allowed him to pound his way into a TKO stoppage just over three minutes into the contest.
It was a gutting result for McKinney, who was immediately met with criticism in regards to poor fight IQ, poor pacing and poor conditioning. Whether he sees those as the critical flaws ultimately comes down to the analysis of McKinney and his team, but he admitted after the fight that there are issues that need to be resolved (via Twitter):
Respect to Dober, he’s tough I appreciate everyone who supported me, a few fixes and I’ll be back even better
— Terrance McKinney (@twrecks155) March 13, 2022
Respect to Dober, he’s tough I appreciate everyone who supported me, a few fixes and I’ll be back even better
Probably one of the most entertaining first round I’ve ever seen what a scrap
— Terrance McKinney (@twrecks155) March 13, 2022
Probably one of the most entertaining first round I’ve ever seen what a scrap
McKinney, 27, still appears to have a bright future ahead despite his setback. He stepped into the fight with Dober as a short-notice replacement after picking up a submission win over Farah Ziam at UFC Fight Night 202 in February, and there’s no telling how the fight would’ve gone if he came in with a full training camp.
Terrance McKinney plans ‘a few fixes’ after allowing comeback TKO at UFC Fight Night 203