MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - AJ McKee Details His "Mental Breakdown" Following Patricio Pitbull Loss | Morning Kombat RSD

Episode Date: September 6, 2022

Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell sit down with Former Bellator featherweight Champion AJ McKee. AJ discusses his mental breakdown after his first loss, Previews his upcoming fight with Spike Carlyle and his move to lightweight. (3:50) - Mental Breakdown After Pitbull Loss (12:55) - Move to Lightweight (17:50) - Layoff between First and Second Pitbull Fight (19:30) - New Contract with Bellator (20:15) - Love for Snowboarding (26:20) - Cars (28:45) - Long Beach California (34:00) - Antonino McKee (40:00) - Tattoos (41:30) - Patricio Pitbull (44:30) - Usman Nurmagomedov (46:35) - Activity Going Forward (47:25) - Bare Knuckle Fighting (50:00) - Athletic Background (52:00) - Social Media DMs (53:00) - Life Goals/Dating (57:25) - Snickers (58:40) - Cris Cyborg (60:00) - Close Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich, but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy. Consider yourself warned. Limited time only at participating McDonald's in Canada. Hey, what's up? My name is AJ Mercenary McKee and I'm currently in New Jersey. I've done some work with the guys previously. I'm not too knowledgeable about them, but I know they're very knowledgeable about the combat sports and mixed martial arts in particular.

It's always nice to catch up with them and kind of shoot the shit a bit. I would say the setting's kind of giving me like an old school, kind of like 80s, 90s vibe. You're giving it good vibes? Yeah, it's old school. It shows like the credibility and the knowledge. Oh shit, he's got the chains. He's got the ice. Nice to see you. How are you?

I'm in the crest, man. I appreciate you coming by, man. Hey, why don't your mouth breathe more on camera? May I just see your sunglasses? May I just see them? These are... Good Lord, they're heavy. Yeah.

Jesus. They're called millionaires. So if I put these on, will I look like a millionaire? You're going to feel like one. That's they're heavy. Yeah. Jesus. They're called millionaires. So if I put these on will I look like a millionaire? You're gonna feel like one. That's it. There you go. I gotta get a picture of this. Holy shit I'm washed. Put the camera on me motherfuckers. I'm never gonna look this cool again.

There it is. again. There it is. Go. Boy, not many people go from starting their career in one organization to then winning a world title

in that organization. But now, maybe something of a bit of a new chapter in that organization which will kick off October 1st, Saturday,

on Showtime at the Long Beach Convention Center when our next guest goes to a new weight class. There's a lot to talk about. It's the one and only A.J. McKee. Hi, A.J., how are you?

I'm doing swell. How about yourself? Good, bro. Long Beach in the house. Long Beach in the house. Okay, someone's had a few gummies. Well, I'll say this, Luke. I'll say this.

The drips might be different, but can we get a wide shot here? I mean, come on. The double drip that's going on right here on the couch, Luke, can you get down with this? It's like Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Guess which one you are. I look a little like a longshoreman that could have been an extra

in Far and Away with Tom Cruise. Remember that boxing movie? No, I don't. AJ, you got a lot. First, let me just start here. Why are you wearing two watches? Oh, you know, time in London, time in Cali. What's up with the time in London?

You know, it's my favorite place. You like London like that? Yeah. Why? I don't know. It's just a fun place. It's fucking expensive, though. It's expensive, yeah. And the food is not that money. What? The food? Nah, Italy's food's better. I will say. Luke, we've been told multiple times by our UK fans that you're

wrong about London. Yeah, I know, because they have the palate of a toddler, but that's not my fault. I can't fix that for them. Anyway, this is about the mercenaries, not about your dumb ass. We're starting out early today. We're glad to have you here. Welcome to the East Coast. Do you like the East Coast?

Yeah, this is my second time here. I'm getting to do a bit more exploring, so it's fun, man. I get to see quite a few landmarks. I'm looking forward to seeing a bit of nature's fun, man. I get to see quite a few landmarks. I'm looking forward to seeing a bit of nature as well, though. What's the biggest difference in terms of, like, the people from West Coast to East Coast? Nobody talks to you here.

And if they do, it's derogatory. It's like, hey, get the fuck out of the road! That and everybody walks really fast. Yes. It's kind of my style. People got shit to do here, You know what I'm saying? They're all moving around. They're moving constant, which is cool.

How are you doing? I'm doing well, man. Life's great, you know? I mean, he's a 27-year-old on top of the world. I mean, maybe those judges got it a little wrong, but besides that recently, he's on top of the world, Luke. Faster, stronger. I'm looking forward to it. Bigger. What happened after your your last fight we'll talk about the last fight in just a second

since then what have you been up to I would just say revamping myself honestly I had a little mental breakdown after it um it was a bit draining for myself um just being a perfectionist you know OCD perfectionist it was a lot to take a to take a loss so to bounce back was that was that was my key you know um it's just really fueling the fire now I'm I'm hungrier than ever it's like I'm focused on getting my first title again you know so uh yeah I got some statements to make now when you say mental breakdown what do you mean exactly like just mentally i i started losing it like i literally mentally went through a lot like and i didn't really have anybody to talk to so um yeah i wasn't gonna tell anybody i was hurting or i was struggling there's nothing wrong with

that by the way i know but i'm just you know my father's antonio mckee He's the type of dude, hey, get up, puss. Why are you crying? They got time for that shit at the body shop. No, not at all. It was just bouncing back, man. Look, you suffered the first loss. I want to get into Pitbull, the decision, all that. But the receipt from that, you lose your invincibility.

The real ones bounce back from that and get it back. You seem to be on your way to doing that. But what's that transaction like when you look in the mirror? You're not undefeated. We're not putting the title on you. We're not calling you the Pomp and Pomp King suddenly anymore. Just new chapter. It's like a book. New chapter and

I'm always undefeated. I'm undefeated in life. And that's my aspect of it. Just keep grinding. Keep going. keep showing. Did you go on vacation? Those shades, bro. Those shades are tremendous.

They're just tremendous. Did you go on vacation after that? Like, when did you discover this love of London, I guess is what I'm trying to— Was that before the fight? The love of London was when, I believe, when Slice fought there. Oh, okay. So this was a while ago. Yeah.

Yeah, it was a while ago. I've got to travel the world. I've been to Israel. I've been to Italy. I've been to Dublin. I've been all over the place. So I've gotten to experience quite a bit. And yeah, London's by far my favorite.

But you stayed at home after the loss? Yeah. I went to Hawaii, supported Cyborg. She's body shop now. been body shop for a few little minutes and uh yeah went to Hawaii had had a little vacation out there and then when I got home that's when it started to settle in and and what did you like the internal dialogue what what began to happen what were the what were the things you were saying to yourself that began to switch um it was just full mental meltdown like mental just breakdown um but one thing i've always done regardless where i'm at in life get to that gym find your way to that gym you know

that's like my my safe places in the gym so it was just uh just getting back in there and getting back hungry you know getting back to doing what i do best that's uh fueling the fire man fueling the fire all right let's take it right there let's let's inspect the wound like it's we're playing operation here last april you go to rematch the great patricio pipple somebody that you stopped in an alarming scene in round one in the first fight to take the title, to take everything, it seemed. Second fight, more tactical, different. It goes to the decision after five rounds.

48-47 on two cards, 49-46 on the third. First off, right there, what do you think when you look back on those scores? I don't know. I feel like the analytics of the fight say it all for me. I outstruck him. I outtook him down. He held on to his best submission for a minute and a half or however long, but he was holding on for his dear life.

He wasn't trying to finish it. He was trying to survive. Yeah. The one that you used his finishing move on him in the first fight. Correct. But that's actually my move. Well, I heard of a McKia teen at one time. I did hear of that.

That's right. No, McKen's a teen, but it's closer. It's closer. We innovate things. It's a little, you know, we create, you know. It was a fun fight, you know. I felt going into that second fight, though, through the tournament, you know, like I said, 4-for-4 all finishes, quoted, did it, and then the rematch.

I felt he had to come to me. He had to beat me that fight. I wanted to see what he had to offer. And I sort of quickly realized he had nothing to offer. Instead of just playing it close, I just, I don't know, I was out there just relaxed. You know, sometimes the thing about me is I sign the contract, I'm going to show up and fight regardless,

regardless what mental state I'm in, regardless if I'm hurt. I'm going to go in there and do my best, but I knew going into that fight, even on my worst day, he couldn't beat me. And I felt that was honestly one of my worst days. Camp wasn't that great, didn't hit mitts a lot. Pops just kind of let me do me. And, yeah, it showed. Striking was, I looked like a drunken monkey out there.

Did you not have the killer instinct that you needed? I wouldn't say I didn't have the killer instinct. Yeah, a little bit. There was just no, I didn't, there was no motivation really. Because you had just beaten him? That and I was in the middle of snowboarding season. So you were really kind of checked out a little bit. Yeah.

Let's be honest. Were you living the life? Were you believing in the headlines? I mean, we, we all hailed you as the new hope episode four, star Wars. You've,

you're here, you're arrived. You're going to bring the, you know, the, what are they called to the galaxy? Balance. Yeah.

I don't have balance. No, not really. Um, I felt that I, I did just enough to win. I knew what I needed to do. I knew he couldn't stop my takedown.

Obviously, trying to put on a show, tell him meet me in the middle, certain little things. It's got to be entertaining, but I'm hungry now. I'm trying to eat. That's going to be the difference. If we fight again, hopefully we do. Hopefully he mans up. Yeah, I don't know about this if stuff.

I think a trilogy is what I want, what everybody wants. That's what everybody wants. I mean, I want— I mean, Adam Boric might have something to say about— other people might have something to say about things, but— Well, Boric said he wants to fight as well. So if he wins, I mean, whatever. Same night, October 1st, right, Adam Boric?

Yeah. This man's coming to my city with my title. Man! Are you surprised by that? Kind of. Yeah? Same night, October 1st, right, Adam Borch? Yeah, this man's coming to my city with my title. Man. Are you surprised by that? Kind of. Yeah? A tad bit. A tad bit.

Yeah, what does this booking say about the situation? You're in the co-main event against Mike Carlisle. An interesting fight. He's a wild man. We want to talk about that. At 155, we'll get to that too, yeah. But your old belt, now around the waist again of the legend, Patricio Pitbull, welcoming Adam Borch in a great fight we need to see.

But this is like a homecoming at the same time for you. What is that? What is this saying? I'll say it how Chell said it. Chell, this is one of my favorite quotes by Chell. Possession is nine tenths. Of the law, yeah. Of the law in this country. That belt

with everybody's name on it is in my possession. You want it? Come and get it. Because the true champ belt will be sitting at that table with me at the press conference. Everybody knows who the true champ is. There's no secret here. Well, it doesn't sound like you're blaming the judges, although I didn't love those scores, to be very honest.

Here's what I thought after five rounds. It could have gone either way. Both of you had moments. Neither of you left no doubt. Do you point a finger at yourself in the mirror in hindsight, maybe about, you know, you mentioned your mindset, maybe not where it should have been. I don't think you were as offensive enough for the success you were having. Is that a fair statement? Agreed. I definitely wasn't even, I wouldn't say I was about, about maybe halfway. It says halfway of where I needed to be. But yeah, it's being able to self-reflect,

look yourself in the mirror. You can't point the fingers. At the end of the day, until the fight is over, it's still at my expense to do what I need to do in that cage. And at any moment, I could have put him away. But I just didn't find the opportunity to capitalize on that moment what did your dad say about the fight I'm gonna plead the fifth on that one was the word fuck in the conversation at all I mean no he was like my pops is a straight shooter man he's like get your shit together he's like I let you do what you did, you know,

and this is the result of it, you know. He's like, you won the fight. He's like, we know you won the fight. Take down, striking, everything. He's like, but look, you left it to the judges. This is why you don't leave it to the judges. Just go out there and give it your all. Now, what part of all of this, or maybe none of it,

but I guess I'm trying to get, how do we get from that to now you're at 155? Did you ask Bellator for a third fight with Patricio? Like, how did it happen that we're now at 155 against Spike Carlisle? Well, I always wanted to be a champ champ. So since McGregor did it, actually prior to him doing it, we go look back at the interviews. I said I'm going to be a champ, champ, two-division champion.

So that was kind of after I beat him up the first time, choked him out, that was my motivation. I was like, champ, champ now. Let's run it back. 55 is faster, stronger, bigger. It came in at 145, and I was like, like, there's a little motivation out the window. I've been at 145 my entire career. I know I'm big enough to hang in and go in there and put my skill set forward and come out on top with the 55 pounders as well. So with that being said, I just want to

be faster, stronger, bigger. I've I just want to be faster stronger bigger been wrestling my whole life been cutting weight my whole life I feel like striking wise um jiu-jitsu wise there's no need for me to put my body my family through it you know it's a lot to get me to 145 pounds obviously yeah it's doable it's great but why put that stress on yourself if there's no need you know You have the skill set. You have the talent to do it in many weights. But to make a statement and to finish off that trilogy, yes, I would do it one last time.

What's your walk-around weight? Currently, I mean, I've touched 185 before. Jesus. Yeah, that's a lot. And that was about two and a half, three years ago. So I can only imagine now if I were to lift and to actually do the things that I need to do to put on real muscle, I would be able to. I had no idea you were getting that big. That's crazy.

I mean, I'm walking 170 right now. And that's just eating normal food, doing what I want. How high do you think you could operate weight-wise with an MMA? Because you've always, like you said, from your first or second fight with Bellator, I remember you saying, I'm going to be the next champion. I'm going to be all of these things. I'm going to take down Patricio. And you did that the first time, of course.

Sometimes you talk about going to lightweight. Sometimes we talk about, could he be a welterweight? What do you think is the ceiling for you? Well, I've lost now, so I don't really give a shit who put somebody in front of me we go up to 170 i don't my record is it's been flawed now so that was something that really played a big part in me and who i am and who i wanted to be was being an undefeated fighter you know um being like floyd being like khabib to finish my career is one of the best and to be unflawed, perfection at its finest. With that now, whatever.

Let's fight. Who's there? You don't care about your record? I mean, I do to a certain extent. But, I mean, 145, 155, I don't care who I fight. We get up to 170, okay, now we're talking big money fights. I'll fight a 170 pounder. That's interesting, though.

I feel like it's not crazy as a fighter to want to be like, oh, I want to retire undefeated because you have seen it done. But folks forget, Habib, beginning to end, only had 13 UFC fights. That's it. He got the fuck out. You know what I mean? Again, you have to understand now, right? right he got the fuck out you know what i mean like you just it's i'm not saying again it it's it's you have to understand now right like that's insanely difficult and it has to the calendar has

to work just right to be able to pull that off no yeah a bit but i feel like i have the skills and the talents to do it so uh okay so 155 they you told bellator all right i'm ready to go 155 and they came back to you with Spike Carlisle. Did they offer anybody else, or how'd they go? There was a few people on the table. I wanted to get acclimated at 55s. I really don't care who. I mean, honestly, my opinion, I asked for Benson Henderson.

If I'm going to do it, that's one of my favorite fighters. I feel like stylistically it would be an awesome fight, dude. Yeah, it would be. Holy shit. Imagine Benson and I in there. It'd be a banger. It'd be a banger. It'd be a great fight. I would have loved that fight. What I like about the Karloff fight is he's a wild, fun-ass TV

fighter. So, how do you get the same motivation now coming off the loss when a lot of people want to see this. It's going to be an event, but there when a lot of people want to see this it's going to be an event but there's a lot of people going man like he should finish this guy so do you feel that pressure again to give them what they want um give them what they want you know i know i have the skill set so let's go in there and do what you do what you're capable of doing i've been training non-stop twice a day three times a day, putting in the hours day in, day out.

So it's just showtime, man. It's time to go in there and get back to being myself, being hungry, and doing what I do best. All right, let's take it back a little bit because I think this plays into it. You have that big moment and you beat Patricio, and we're talking like, is this guy going to be on pay-per-view tomorrow? Are they going to put him on network television? I mean, is he going to be in a crossover boxing match?

Suddenly it was like you were that thing, but you were out of the cage for a while after that. I know some of that behind-the-scenes negotiations spilled into the media and maybe spilled into, I want to ask you, did all that play in negatively to your motivation and mindset when you finally did sign to enter to fight Patricio the second time? Kind of. I was sign to enter to fight Patricio the second time? Kind of. I was just itching to fight.

If I finished him that quick and then we go on an eight-month layaway, it's like, fuck, you know? And then, like I said, you call me in the middle of snowboarding season. There's no motivation. I'm trying to go hit these backflips subtly, you know what I mean, and get them clean. So, yeah, I would say it's just there's all sorts of things on the back end that take place. And that's part of the fight game. A lot of people don't get to see or understand.

But at the end of the day, it's how we put food on the table for our family. So for me, it's being active and being in there as much as possible. There was a narrative that you said, I won't fight unless I get a million per fight. And I was like, get that money, player. Is that a true fact? Yeah. Why not?

Why the hell not? I just won a million dollars in a stylistically fashion, and I literally quoted what I was going to do. You know, if we win the next MMA podcast award, I'm going to say the same thing to our boss. Good luck. Four for four all finishes. I finished three out of four in the first round.

That's a hungry, motivated AJ. That's determined. That's me showing you this is what I'm capable of doing. The proof's in the pudding. I mean, I need my motivation. Do you, I think you're in the middle of a contract now, right? Mm-hmm. And did you get a lot of what you wanted out of this contract?

Kind of, yeah. Initially signing my contract, I focused on the million-dollar prize. That was my goal, the million-dollar prize being a world champion. That was everything for me. And so that was largely fulfilled, I guess. Yeah. I motivated myself. I set my eyes on a prize, and I go get it.

I want to come back to this, but you mentioned I can't let it go, the snowboarding thing. I've never done it. Look at the smile on his face. Snowboarding in cars, man. That's Brian Campbell after two Delta-8 gummies right there. I mean, it's the same thing. Same energy.

I've been saying it. Same energy. I mean same thing. Same energy. I've been saying it. Same energy. I mean, these two are twins. I've never done it. Walk me through snowboarding. What's so great about it? Heel toe, baby. Heel toe.

Yeah, I don't know what that means. Everybody that snowboards knows. Skiers don't get it. Yeah, I've been skiing a million times. Oh, I'm sorry. We can't be friends. No, no. I have nothing against it, but snowboarding picked up right as I kind of stopped going to the slopes or whatever.

Yeah. Okay. So heel-toe. It's like skateboarding. Skateboarding. You're on your heels and you're on your toes a lot. I grew up skateboarding a lot, so snowboarding is – I can kind of pick up the gist of it pretty quick. I don't know. cousin's snowboard. I had my first season about two and a half years ago and I just fell in love, man. Um, it's being strapped in a board with, with your feet in the board, like you're in full control, you know? And I think that's the key. Um, skiing's sketchy to me, dude. I don't know how you do it, bro. Well, I, first of all, look at me now. I don't.

Okay. It's sketchy. But when I was roughly your age, I would go on occasion. I mean, if you grow up doing something, you don't know any different. But I would see snowboarders come around and be like, that looks fucking cool. But they would all be younger and, like, you know, they were fast as fuck.

They were like the cool stoners, too. Yeah, they were like the cool stoners. You know what I'm saying? So your cousins got you into it? Yeah, I got a cousin, Luke. I got a cousin, Luke. He's snowboarding. He's got all his friends, Chase, Area 53, little Brandon stuff.

Does your cousin, Luke, favor Latin women by any chance? No, his girlfriend's blonde-haired blue eyes. A little BBL segue there, but yeah, there we go. You've shoehorned in a couple of those. But what's so great about it? Like, forget about it relative to skiing. I just mean for you, when you're doing it, what do you get from it that's so enjoyable?

I don't know. It's a good question. I would say being able to learn something and kind of have sky be the limit, you know? It's just fun. It's fun. I can go hit a rail. I can go do a backflip. Can you do tricks and shit like that?

Oh yeah, I got videos doing backflips. My first season I was doing backflips already. Yo, fuck you AJ. You're having too much fun. Well AJ, you don't seem to get into something unless you're willing to try to be the best to ever do it. Are we going to end up on the X Games? What's going to happen here? Hey, I would love

to be on X Games all the way. Honestly, I've kind of been trying to speak it into fruition. I might laugh at that normally, but you are a freak, man. That's part of the charm of your journey to get here. It's been a lot of I can do that, and then you went out and freaking did it. That's the thing. When you put your mind

to something, the mind's very powerful, very powerful. I don't think people realize how powerful the mind is alongside with the work. If you're able to put in the work and fall and get back up and fall and get back up and fall and get back up, it's not about how many times you fall but how many times you get up. I tweaked my rib snowboarding, but guess what? In the middle of the run, I'm going to still hit this. I'm going to still hit this rail and see if I could do it. Oh, that's my rib. I'm done for the

day. Let me go hit the koozie and relax a bit. But it's being able to just, you know, just always evolve and continue to push yourself to its limits. Normally this couch has been involved in conversations about hitting the rails, but it's been a little bit. That and the murder of hookers. That's true. We'd be remiss if we didn't bring up our snack of choice. Are you in on this Brazilian nut movement? It's supposed to raise your testosterone.

Brazilian nut movement. By eating Brazilian nuts. Yeah, you want to try one? They're not that great. You could end up looking like Vitor Belfort in 2013 after a handful of those, all right? That's what I'm talking about right there, yeah. What kind of nuts are these? The Brazilian ones. Yeah.

Probably made with, like, acai and shit, you know? I love acai. Yeah, me too. Like, acai I'm good with. I do feel like the Brazilians tend to overrate some of their food, but when they recommend acai, have you had, like, real acai bowls before? Damn right. That's why I live off of them.

They're pretty good. I like those for sure. That and 70s neo-noir flicks. By the way, to get back to the snowboarding thing, I have a little small theory. I think most people, male or female, but certainly I grew up around other guys as friends. I would say that everyone wants to just get some

kind of itch scratch when it comes to speed. Going down a mountain on a snowboard or a bike or a water ski or a motorcycle or a horse or whatever the fuck it is. There's something about taking a young guy, or whoever, young person, and putting them fast into something, and then this being magic for them. I don't quite get it. It's the adrenaline.

It kind of started that way, actually. It's funny you say that. But then, because we used to race down the hill. It's called Goliath, Big Bear. We call it Goliath. Full force all the way down. Last one down, you suck. Garbage.

Pussy. Like, so, hey, no helmet. We're full sin. Dude. What are you doing? You know? Just prone. L-I-V-I-N.

Leg down. Yo, UFC put shit in Donald Cerrone's contract about, like, please don't wakeboard over a pool of cobras. Please don't assault people on a yacht while partying. You're living a bit of a mini daredevil life. Are they going to have to put shit in your contract and not make you you know. I won't be signing it.

I won't be signing it then. Even in the NFL, they make them sign some of those contracts. Yeah, but these guys still get on motorcycles and do kind of other shit. Yeah, they do do dumb shit. That's true. And they make hundreds of millions of dollars. Yeah, they're also employees, so it's a little bit different. I'm just saying, you seem to be doing a bit of the, it's weird, dude.

I always think, like, intuitively, I talk to people like, oh, when someone's done fighting, they want to go and just, you know, have a chill life. And some people do that, but it's actually the inverse. You talk to a lot of young fighters, they get done fighting, they want to go do other crazy shit. Yeah, I need my youth. I'm only going to be this young for a certain amount of time. And the healing rate, as you get older, slows down.

I'm starting to see that. No, you're not. Just wait. He's 27. He's just fucking waiting. I'm 27. He's feeling the beginnings. I'm feeling the beginnings of it.

I'm still healing up pretty fast. So that's the key, man. Yeah, like you said, it's the adrenaline, dude. I'm an adrenaline junkie. I love my cars too, dude. What are you driving? I have quite a few cars. Let's hear it.

I have a 91 Honda CRX. That's my baby. Okay, you can skip that one. What? I'll break your Lambos. He makes fun of my orange Subaru Crosstrek all the time. Man, it's all-wheel drive. That's my baby. Okay, you can skip that one. What? I'll break your Lambos. He makes fun of my orange Subaru Crosstrek all the time. Man, it's all wheel drive. It's not normal.

Okay, all right. It's my track car. It's phenomenal. That's my baby. It's called the Tin Can. Is this something we would see like in Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift or something? Oh, hell yeah. Yo, Honda was a legend in that shit, right?

Yeah. All right. So I got that. It's B18 turbo, bored out, precision. It's, thing's insane. But,

currently going all-wheel driving that. I got an S2000. I'm an import kid. Okay. Import. My first American car was my Cadillac. I'm a Mazda dad.

So, we're in very far parts on this. Well, I've been looking at RX-7 lately. Old school. Old school joy, yes. They're like, what's the old commercial?

It's a movie. They were in space. Driving a Mazda? No, no, no, no. They were in like the little UFO looking things flying through space. Star Wars. No. Star Trek.

No, it's not like that. Emmanuel in space? I saw that. It's in a max. That was good. No, they're not actual characters. It was a cartoon. I don't.

I don't. Damn, what's the name? Jetsons? Jetsons. There we go. Yeah. So the inside of the Mazda does actually look like the Jetson little car bubbles. Okay.

The old school RX-7s. All right. I'm trying to get my hands on RX-7 right now. I want to hear. I love it. I'm thinking about 2J swapping that. Do you have anything else? I have a 2018

championship edition CTSV. I don't know what that is. Caddy gang. Call me Caddy. Young man explains things to old father Tune in next time You have to understand Think of me as if I've never lived on earth

So when I ask you about a nice car I've never been in one This car is Is The car of Of Like This is the car you take like somewhere to look cool

Like you tend to stand a valet and shit Yeah But it's also a dad car because it's a four-door. Oh, shit. Okay. You're a cool dad. All right. Oh, yeah.

Okay. So if they gave me a raise, I could get one of those, put the baby seat in the back. Yeah, it'd be cool. Exactly. That's right. AJ, when you look at my Lithuanian jaw, I know you're thinking that kid grew up in a factory town. He might be tougher than he looks. Do you embody Long Beach, California in your slagger, style, your everything?

Man, yeah. It's built me and raised me to who I am. It's molded me, dude. It's had its ups and downs, but that's anything in life. It's the experiences and what you gather and gain from the experiences and how you evolve from those experiences. I mean, you grew up, to be fair, like you grew up in the thick of some shit, right? I mean, you grew up hard.

Yeah. My dad sheltered me, so this is the thing. He sheltered me, but then again, at the same time, I was exposed to certain things too that he couldn't shelter me from um so yeah I wouldn't compare my life to his life I've had a fucking Cinderella story compared to him um so with that you know every generation you you your offspring you want them to be better than you you want them to not experience the things in life that you experienced. And like vice versa, my four-year-old brother, five-year-old brother, Mason, he's not going to deal with half the things I dealt with as a kid,

getting tied up and beat up. He's not going to deal with that, but he's going to be the best fighter in the world. Well, that's the thing. Like you, he gets this benefit. You may have had it hard, but where you had it, look at you now, you grew up thinking it's normal to be in a gym and there's Tito Ortiz

and there's some other guy fighting on TV and another guy fighting on TV. And it's like I always said, like, man, kids that grew up and their dad owned a store, they're going to just grow up to think running a business

is normal, right? You're going to grow up thinking becoming a badass fighter is normal. Your little brother's going to be watching you thinking it's normal to do this. I mean, that's... That's how you got into

shoplifting? That's how I started eating most of my adult meals at Cumberland Farms. Unfortunately, it's normal. But the thing is, dude, you had, your brother's got the same thing, just such a benefit in the end. Like, you don't become a phenom unless you kind of grew up looking around

and thinking that's normal, right? Agreed, 1,000%. It's being exposed to those things. It's how you take it. Either you can stay congested in it or you can step out of that little bubble and adapt from it, you know, take and utilize the things that you learn. And that's a big key, man, is being able to self-reflect. I always am real big on self-reflecting.

You got to be able to look yourself in the mirror and be like, it could be somebody else's fault, but what did I do in this instance to make the outcome the way that it did? And, yeah, that's... I mean, you worked hard. You also got an education. What's it like growing up and Uncle Rampage is the baddest man in the world and he's just, you know, you're watching him.

What the hell is that like? I don't know. It's Uncle Page, and he's just, you know, you're watching him. What the hell is that like? I don't know. It's Uncle Page. It's Uncle Page, you know? It's like even Mason. He was just with us, what, two days ago at the fight, and we took a no, but, you know, all he's thinking, you should have just knocked him out.

You should have just finished him. You should have went. You should have did it. It's like, Mason, chill. We know, you should have just knocked him out. You should have just finished him. You should have went. You should have did it. It's like, Mason, chill. We know. It's not always. It's easier said than done sometimes. But he's going to be the future, dude.

I thought, all right, yeah, I'm going to be the future. But he's five years old. He's doing arm bars, heel hooks, and everything else in the book at five. It's like, I don't. Two East Coast guys. So there's, I'm sure there's many more beaches than this. But like, we don't know Cali parts and all the different ways in which they're similar or different in the way, obviously, that you would. So there's like Huntington Beach, where Tito's from.

I think Manhattan Beach. Manhattan Beach. There's like Venice Beach. Then there's Long Beach. Santa Monica. Tell me the differences between the beaches. And I don't mean like the actual beach, but I mean the places, the communities. What's Long Beach like, especially relative to some of these other places I mentioned?

Long Beach is Long Beach, dude. Long Beach is a mix. You can be on one block, and you've got the LBG community and their whole little area with the rainbow sidewalks. And then you go the next block over, you got the hood. And then you go the next block over, and you got downtown Long Beach. And it's all nice shopping areas. And then you go a few blocks up, and you got the projects.

And everybody gets along. There's no crime. No. Everybody stays in their place. Everybody stays in their area. And everybody, you know, they're, everybody has their things. Like,

you know, it's, it's crazy the way it works. But, yeah, at the end of the day, everybody's cordial. Everybody just kind of stays

in their lane. What part of California sucks? You're like, yo, fuck that part. I've been had. Calabasas, bitch.

I actually like Calabasas. Don't know shit about it. California's enormous. They got nice houses. Oh, do they? Okay. Yeah, they got nice houses, I will say. They got some pretty saucy houses.

And what is Long Beach? Is it more like working class? Or all different types? All different types. You have all. It's all working. Everybody's working. Will you stay there forever?

Are you still there? Tell me where you're from. Yeah, I'm still in Long Beach. Born and raised. I don't think I'm ever going anywhere. That's my city. You will always stay there? Nothing could ever turn you away? I'll always be in Long Beach. For better or for worse? For better or for worse. I'm always in the beach.

Fair enough. How tough is Antonio McKee, your pops? Explain it however you want. How tough is Antonio McKee? Man's 52 years old. He still trains with me every day. That's a lot. 52 years old, and he frustrates me the most out of everybody in the gym. You still got that old man strength?

Oh, that's not going anywhere. Yeah. It's ridiculous. I wish I had it. Does he run classes? Like, what all does he do as an operations guy? He coaches. He does personals, one-on-ones with certain fighters. Yeah, he does personals, one-on-ones with certain fighters.

Yeah, he does personals, one-on-ones. He does the jiu-jitsu. I'll help out with the jiu-jitsu. We got YL. He does the jiu-jitsu a bit. We got a thick, young roster of amateurs right now. We just had a guy, Jake Baby, and he won the belt for all of California.

Oh, Camo, I think that's what it's called? Yeah, Camo. He won the belt. I never got to win that belt. He won that belt. It's pretty sick. We got a thick young roster, dude. It's pretty crazy. We got probably like eight, nine, I'd say like eight or nine young guys that are just up and coming on their way.

Now, you've probably like time to time visited a city, dabbled here. I'm here on this press event. I'm going to check out this gym. I'm sure you've been to other MMA gyms at least as a visitor at times, right? ATT is about the only other one. That's it? Literally. I was going to say like what would be the difference in vibe?

I was going to ask that. So ATT is obviously a world-class facility and gym. I would love to have a facility like that myself. Yeah, but Florida's got a lot of open space. Yeah. I mean, Florida's crazy as shit too, Luke. It's also batshit insane, yes. Yeah.

I mean, yeah, ATT is about the only gym I've ever been to, and we had the whole gym to ourselves. Well, what's the – oh, I guess, yeah, you're not really the only gym I've ever been to, and we had the whole gym to ourself. Well, what's the – oh, I guess, yeah, you're not really training there in that sort of sense here. What do you absorb from your dad that you think is the most important in the success? Now, a lot of it you've done on your own, but you had a great mentor to pass down and prepare you for this life. What do you look at as like, I got that from my pops,

and that's why I'm here? I would say the ego, the drive, just to be the best, make statements to always prevail, man, through thick and thin, just always prevail, you know, no matter the outcome, the circumstances, just be better, do better, and help those around you. I know back in the day, my father was a very vocal and verbal person about his career and the way things are perceived to be in the mixed martial arts game.

So when it became my time, he set all his beliefs aside, and he just kind of allowed me to do me. And he doesn't really push his beliefs on me. He just lets me do me and tells me what's right and tells me what's wrong, tells me when I'm right, tells me when I'm wrong, and just how to be the best that I can be, along with all the other guys in the gym, man. He's just such a great man.

He's a mentor, a father figure to all these guys. A lot of these guys come from broken homes. No mother, no father, or one or the other. And he's just a great father mentor, you know. We end every practice. We pray out for each other. Whether you're in the gym or not,

we pray for each other, you know. And yeah, it's just family that prays together, Luke. Stays together. yeah, it's just continuing. Remember that praise together, Luke? Stays together. Stays together. Off the top. That's nice. Remember that.

No cap. That's a nice thing to say. In terms of working with your dad, it's an interesting line of inquiry because we also cover boxing on the show a little bit. And the father-son dynamic there is way more common but also much more controversial. Like, obviously, there are some tandems where it works really great. We just had Danny Garcia on.

Him and his dad seems to be a winning combo, and it has been for a very long time. But you've seen other cases where just there's constant conflict. And so there's a lot of scrutiny inside that sport. What do you make of the father-son dynamic? What are some of the really good things about it? What are some of the challenges? Well, for myself, like I said, it's self-reflecting. It's being able to be in that moment and take heed to what your parents are telling you.

Obviously, him being a first-generation fighter, knowing the ins and outs of the game, I know at the end of the day he wants nothing but what's best for me. And, yeah, just being able to take heed to what he's saying. It's weird because a lot of guys kind of look at our relationship and it's like, oh, well you don't do that with AJ. It's like, well, it's my son. It's like, but he still does the exact same for you, but he's not going to hound you the way he hounds me. Cause obviously it's like my offspring. It's a bit different. But he pushes everybody in the right direction, man. And I think that's key.

The dynamic of the father and son, I think it's a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because you know your parents are there for you. You know they want what's best. It's a curse because I feel like things evolve. Things evolve, the world evolves, and sports evolve. So I think the sport evolves and obviously me having a more evolved mindset, my goals and aspirations, I don't expect him or other people to understand because that's why they're called dreams. They're my dreams. I dream them. And it's for me to work for and for me to put into action

and to make them to where they become reality. And, yeah, he's always in my corner. He's always going to motivate me and push me, and that's what I really appreciate. He's a hell of an accountability partner because he will push you harder than anybody. Like you said, there's something bad to that, but at the end of the day, you know what it's about,

why he's there, out of love. And it's like, I got accountability partners who will tell me, BC, that look, little low T, looking like you're, you know, midlife crisis. If you dress any flashier, I'm going to have to intervene and be like, yo, you're looking like the Captain Eric Albarracin, okay? You know what I mean? Take it back a notch, okay?

I think this is about it. This is all I need. Bust down this, you're looking like the Captain Eric Albaracin, okay? You know what I mean? Take it back a notch, okay? I think this is about it. This is all I need. Bust down this, you know? I made the family crest piece, got my pops one, you know? It's subtle. Looks like you have Farsi or Arabic on your palm. Yeah. Can you show it to the camera?

Both. Yeah. Okay, can you tell us what it says? You got the Baz Rootin tattoos. Well, it's upside down. Loyalty and faith. It's like faith, you know, to do what's right. I'm going to shake your hand. When did you get these? This one, so my buddy actually passed away that did this one. This was my first tattoo.

And then I got this one before the rematch. That's pretty funny. Why the palms? It's the most powerful. I don't know what that means. They're just the most powerful. Thank you, Spider-Man. Dragon Ball Z all day.

Dragon Ball. It's interesting because he and I appreciate this. There's a lot of places you go into, they won't tattoo your palms. Yeah, they say it's the most painful, but I get punched in the face for a living. There is that. My pain tolerance is very high. Until you get a tattoo on your dong, then you don't really know about in the face for a living. There is that. My pain tolerance is very high. Until you get a tattoo on your dong, then you don't really know about the rest.

I know someone that's done that. Do you really? Yeah, he's got a star on the tip of his dick. Excuse my language. This is a friend of yours? It's his first name, Eric Albarossi. No. Speaking of that camp, look, you're going to be linked in history

with Patricio Pippo, and I love that, man. That's fucking hilarious. You're going to know what's that message for that one. Do you love and respect the great Patricio, the captain, that team now going to two fights that have had a lot of emotions surrounding him? I did. I had a lot more respect for him prior to our last fight. Now, not really. Why? Why?

Why? Because he's fighting someone else and we got unfinished business. Whose decision was it to not make the trilogy? I don't know, but he's the champ. And so you don't feel like he's even advocating for it? Dude, if you're the champ, like I said, I want to fight this person because I'm the champ. He wanted to fight me. Okay, I could have said no. But no, you felt like you didn't win or you felt it was a fluke or something.

Okay, well, let's fight again. I'm going to show you. And I showed him. And now all of a sudden, I wasn't happy with it. I mean, it was a close fight, like you guys say. I don't think. I mean, it was close, but it wasn't that close. But it was to the point where

like, alright, cool, we got unfinished business. Now you're going to fight against someone else. It just doesn't make sense. Yeah, but it also sounds like... Okay, so let's just get a clarification. Are you done at 145? No, I'll go back down there to beat him up one more time.

Okay, so there is at least a possible case for you to go back at 145, but for the most part, it's 155. No, I'll go back down there to beat him up one more time. Okay, so there is at least a possible case for you to go back at 145, but for the most part, it's 155. It needs to be soon, if that's going to be the case, because like I said... How much longer do you think he's got left? I think he's going to retire, honestly.

That was what I said. I said he's not going to fight me. He's going to fight Borks. If he beats Borks, he's going to retire. If he retires in your home gym, that's some like Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler shit. That's called pinocha. I mean, what does that mean? Or piscachi.

Pinocha is Spanish. Piscachi, he understands that. That's Portuguese. Which means? Pussy. Oh, right. And that's what I constantly thought. We used to call that punani when I was a kid.

That's a California term. We know that one. See? Yeah, you're the king of Punani jokes. You're dealing with shit right here. So you felt like the biggest fight was to make for the company and him was the rematch. You gave him that. Now the biggest fight to make for everybody still might be the trilogy.

He's not giving you that. And now you're a little nervous. He might just walk away in your home gym, spit on the ground, and be like, you're never getting this trilogy. Not the home. He's not doing it at the body shop. Like I said, it's in his living room. It's Long Beach.

Tell Sonnen, possession is nine-tenths of a law, baby. Yeah. I will forever. He can have all the Bellator belts he wants. I have the million-dollar championship belt. I have his name on that belt. That is something he does not have. That is pretty fair.

All right. Nor will he ever. Are you going to go through his brother to get that lightweight title too? Yeah, good question. I don't think his brother is going to make it past Usman. Usman Nurmagomedov versus Patrycki Pitbull for the lightweight title Bellator has, I believe, booked this, right? I know we've talked about it.

I think it's the same fight as the Corey Anderson. But I believe it's the same day as the Corey Anderson. I mean, that's a great freaking fight. I'd love to hear your opinion on Usman, who we love. He looks like a handful. That Chris Gonzalez kid he went through is no slouch. And Usman just walked through him.

Yeah, he's great. He's good. Because I've been saying for a while, the fight in Bellator, the fight. It's going to take some things to happen to get there. AJ McKee versus Usman Nurmagomedov. I don't even care the weight class. I don't care the scenario. I don't care if it's in your backyard or mine.

All I got to say is if I can't be undefeated, no one can. Oh, shit. Well, Habib's undefeated. I mean, there is that. I'm just saying. Don't kill me. I'm just making a point. Touché. I'm just making a literal point about it. But still, do you Well, under my watch.

Fair enough. Do you obviously, you're anticipating a fight with Spike Carlisle. It's coming up next. Do you, obviously you're anticipating a fight with Spike Carlisle. It's coming up next. Do you allow yourself to be like, I want to, I'm looking down the road. Like I know I have an encounter with Usman on the calendar at some point. It's inevitable. Definitely.

Yeah? Definitely. Size him up for a fighter. Give me the scouting report on Usman Nurmagomedov. Good wrestling. In shape. A little lanky striking's decent um we haven't got to see much of his jujitsu um but you can tell wrestling base front headlocks are there supreme

so does he have any of the not like habib is a very different style but do you see any of the any similarities along the way i I would say the wrestling. The wrestling. I mean, all the Dagestanians, they all wrestle. That's the Abdulmanap. They're good, right? His late father, that's the stamp he put on that, Luke. Yeah, that's another guy, by the way. Well, obviously, Abdulmanap, he trained more than just his own kids,

but similar kind of figure in that way to you. They call him Dagestan's Antonio McKee. I don't know if they call him that exactly. They should. Nevertheless, dude, we are super thrilled for your return here. One thing I have heard you say, though, is you want to be more active, right? Oh, yeah. Okay, so we're in, what is it?

It must be September by the time basically this comes out or a little bit around. We have, let's see, you've got the rest of September, October, November, December. You've got four months left this year, plus let's say we talked in a year is a long time. Talk to me about what kind of frequency works best for you. I mean, if I'm knocking people out in two minutes like I did Patricio, I'd be back in there in a month and a half. Has Bellator expressed any interest in this? We haven't really communicated on those terms, no.

But is the idea here against Spike is to get a quick turnaround after that? I mean, I'm assuming everything goes the way it's supposed to go or whatever. Maybe, no. So, but is the idea here against Spike is to get a quick turnaround after that? I mean, I'm assuming everything goes the way it's supposed to go or whatever. Maybe, yeah. Yeah, definitely. All right. All right, I got to get your two cents. You're not shutting this guy down, right? No, no, no.

I got things I got to ask you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A contemporary of yours, in a sense, Bellator's Michael Venom Page just effed around and got bare-knuckled going to a split draw against Mike Perry but having to freaking earn it and then losing the OT round. When you see him take that strong financial move and go after it but come home with some receipts, what are your thoughts? Dope, man. More power to him.

Keep doing your thing. That's why I said I'd love to step into the boxing realm. Just who am I going to fight? You're talking about real boxing, not the bare-knuckle. I mean, I'll do that too. That's a grimy animal. I'll do that too. That's a different type of...

That's the way I started, bro. I started bare knuckle back in the backyards. Were you doing like the unofficial, you know how Jorge fought on those Kimbo shows and shit? Dude, we were doing that as kids.

I used to go with my cousin, Joey, we'd go in Compton. He lived in Compton. We'd go fight there in the backyards. My dad, they'd do their thing. Kimbo, all of them. It's just generation of generation.

This is what we do. I'm sure I'll end my career in bare knuckles somewhere. You think so? Why not? Dude, that shit's so brutal. That's the whole point. But if he's that spectacular and he's that grimy underneath Luke, damn. That's the whole point. Damn.

Have you thought about like okay let me put it this way how realistic is it in 2023 that you could take a fight uh while still being under contract or whatever but in boxing if something like that if the right opportunity if the right opponent came around 2023 let's do a 2022 in other words there's no contractual hold up in that way um i believe there is perhaps maybe i don't know i don't think so though i don't know there's different kinds of boxing what are we talking here there's there's boxing jake paul that's one of the types of boxing there's fighting mike perry in a bare knuckle booth there's also more traditional what type of boxing are you talking about me i would like to get into actual traditional boxing bare-knuckle booth, there's also more traditional. What type of boxing are you talking about? Me? I would

like to get into actual traditional boxing. What's the... Why? I plead the fifth on that. What do you mean you plead the fifth? Tell me why you like boxing. I think in this court, you're forced. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. We plead ignorance. I mean, there's just... We plead to being high. That's

all we do here. It's a sport. I'll leave it at that. You know, Aaron Pico is fancying the same thing. You like that guy? Yeah, that's my boy. He's very good. You ever see his horse? Yeah.

You ever see the size of his horse's dong? Holy shit, dude. Dude, it's like a garden hose. I mean, you know, you could assume we're better than this, but we're not, bro, at all. It's out of control. It's out of control. Much like this show, It's out of control. It's out of control. Much like this show, it's out of control.

You've never seen the Instagram videos? He'll post these videos like, and the dong is just going to work. Yeah, it's like sweeping the ground and stuff. So look, you were a mixed martial arts phenom, and look at you now. Were you a team sports guy too? I have to assume with your athletic background

that you could do some things at wide out or small forward. What kind of sporting background do you have? Wrestling, football. That's about it. That's all I have to say. What kind of football player were you? Cornerback? No.

Running back, corner, slot. Were you a playmaker like you are in the fight game? I was little. I was 98 pounds, 4'8". but i wasn't scared to hit that hole i actually broke my nose in football did you really yeah my coach wanted me factual situation my coach wanted me to like stop practicing and i'm like nah dude like i'm good like let's just keep practicing and he-da-da-da, and I'm like, nah, dude, like, I'm good. Like, let's just keep practicing, and he'd stop practice. If all you guys

were fucking like this kid, we'd be champions, and da-da-da-da. It was pretty funny. That was when I went to Paloma. I often have an obsession of which MMA fighters can dunk and who can dunk easy. Like, Dov lets on Yagshamur. I don't think he's dunking. AJ McKee? Probably, right?

A little bit? I mean, I hit that rim. I don't know if I could dunk. AJ McKee? Probably, right? A little bit? I mean, I hit that rim. I don't know if I could dunk. Oh, he kicked into the buff? I could see you being one of those secret windmill guys. I bet if you worked at it a little bit, you could do it just fine. Definitely. What are you, 5'10"? Yeah, 5'10", 5'11".

All right. Are you a Lakers guy? Off the top, Kobe. Rest in peace. Okay. What about Pat Bev? Are you a Pat Bev guy? Eh.

You're about to be. I don't even... It's just a piece, Luke, okay? It's LeBron's team. Yeah, but he's a chatty, chatty piece. Honestly, I'm not really up to date with current sports, like, outside of mixed martial arts. If it's not top five in my weight class, it's... So you're either snowboarding or training, that's it?

Yeah, and driving my car. Driving the cars, yes. Okay, fair enough. Yeah, you're focused as shit, bro. ADD focus, ADHD. Luke was saying... Yeah, but it's just your habits are now just baked into your life. Yeah, that's what they are.

You know what I mean? It just becomes part of the flow. Luke was saying off-camera earlier, he probably wasn't going to have the guts to ask you this, but when you become a champion, do the DMs fill, bro? I wouldn't think so. With dudes? Yeah. Dude, YouTube. I don't really

get on. I don't like social media. I mean, honestly, I get on Instagram to watch some F1 racing, and that's about it. I scroll through my Explore page, and then I'm like, all right. He's living in his own bubble of success, Luke. Okay, that's the way to be happy. Yeah, bro, I can look at my metrics on YouTube to see what the audience is like and where they're coming from. I've probably done that like twice in my life.

Okay, but it's valuable. It's valuable because you can be like, oh, they're coming from Australia for some Volkanovski video or whatever the fuck. Dude, every month it never changes. Male, 99%. Female, one. This has been happening for years. It's never never been like 98 to it's just 99 one we're

in a brutal gruesome sport so it it's the coverage of it man they it's it's back to the Roman date well gladiator Roman days like it's what the people like when people meet you who don't know what you do and they find out what they what you do what like what is their reaction

because you're otherwise such a like a very nice guy but like it kind of throws them off yeah i'm a big lover so like people that actually know me outside of the fight game it's like dude yeah he's one of the most nice just down-to-earth loving guys um and it's weird because i have like no love life kind of depressing well you got to fix that bro I mean you ain't gonna be 27 again I know you wanna know see see and that's another thing like my father was the way that he was like I got exposed to a lot as a kid I got to see a lot and there was a lot that I just I want to differ from you know um I want to be the first one in my family to be married and to have kids before having children out of White Locks.

So it's just like certain goals and aspirations that I've placed on myself. I know I set the bar high for myself. Respect, yeah. You know, but it's— Yeah, but you've got to be a little bit organic with it, too. You can't be too— Nah, yeah. You've got to let life come to you a little bit.

What he's trying to say is if you come across a BBL, accept it. It could change your life. I mean, you're fetishizing it at this point. I mean, you really are. I didn't mean to upset you. Sorry. So you, we don't normally talk about this kind of thing on this show, but it is worth exploring for just a second.

So you don't date at all? Like, you don't live that kind of life? I mean, not really. If, if, no. I'm not going to put myself in a situation unless I'm willing to take it serious. Other than that, I'm just wasting time, and time is the most precious thing on earth. It's focused man yeah these fighters

make different calculations about ordinary life things it's hard for you to appreciate because it's just your life but the calculations that you guys are forced to make because we you know we

people come we talk to them for a long time I've heard Amanda Serrano champion most decorated women's boxing champion in history say

never had a boyfriend I will not have one until I'm done with my career it's a different level cannot get in the way yeah i mean like i had early in my career i had a serious relationship it was uh three to five years three to five years it was three years spent a year and a half trying to fix and repair it um it just didn't work out but during that time man um it's crazy the impact that someone can have on you in that moment um there was one fight i was just waiting for the phone call i didn't want to fight i did not want to fight i'm just sitting there waiting for the

fight and i know my dad he's giving me that look like bro you're about to go fight like pull your head together right now and i'm just sitting there hey man fuck this i don't want this in the dressing room it's in the dressing room my hands are wrapped everything i get a phone call hey just go do your thing you know miss you love you and fucking lit up i'm going to knock this motherfucker out and i'm like hey bet you i told them uh buddy a matchmaker like, hey, bet your AP I knocked this dude out. And that was when I knocked out John McCapa. Went out there and knocked out McCapa. I didn't have problems.

Yeah. That's crazy. You know, but the point I was trying to make was just beyond that. It's like, remember Sean Shirk, the famous UFC welterweight? No. Okay, so that's a little crazy to hear. The Muscle Shark. His nickname was the Muscle Shark.

If you go back and look at him, the Japanese gave him that nickname. And whatever the commission pre-used out of that. Yeah. That gave him that steroid suspension. Sean Shark was a famous welterweight. He beat Kenny Florian. He gave Matt Hughes a hell of a fight. He was super bricked up but short or super muscular, whatever.

The point I'm trying to make is UFC did one of these things where they went to his house and talked to him about his training. It's like the most, at the time anyway, it was the most insane shit you'd ever seen in your life. And then they show what he was eating. And like, you know, now it's the cool thing to have like a chef who has like healthy foods, but it looks like good to eat. This motherfucker literally had a bit where he just is eating this paste he had made.

I'm not joking. It was just like, just literally raw nutrients or whatever. And he looked at the camera and he said, what you have to understand is, I don't eat for taste. I eat for performance. And I was like, that is the most insane shit that an ordinary person would never even

consider. Like, it would be, it's like fighters have to make these insane calculations. Anyway, so it seems like you have to make a few of those as well. Yeah, I don't like egg whites. Well, who does? I mean, they're the worst. You got to eat it.

It's high protein, not high on carbs, calories. Do you have a weakness, though? Is there a food you could be driving by and you see it and you're like, fuck that. It's Snickers, dude. Snickers, Argy. Yeah, but that's because you want that sponsorship money. No, it's literally genuinely in my family. Addiction to Snickers.

Addiction to Snickers. My dad, he'll tell you stories. In the boys' home, he went through some things as a child, and in the boys' homes, that was his thing. Kept him satisfied. Kept him satisfied. It was Snickers, dude. High in protein.

You got the nuts. You got the caramel. you got the nougat I don't like the chocolate honestly though I think that's sacrilege maybe un-American by you but that's fine it's cool apologies Jesus who doesn't like chocolate on the Snickers

it's just okay let me rephrase this no I don't like the white chocolate Snickers it's gross the king size Snickers has just enough chocolate on it to like balance out the nougat and the caramel and the nuts. The mini ones, it's like, it's just overpowering. So I always bite the chocolate off of the Snickers.

The nougat is the MVP though, right? MVP. You know that candy bar fast break, the best candy bar ever invented? That's all nougat, you know? No, I don't. Yeah. I just did my Luke impression right there. This is probably our best and worst room service diaries at the same time,

and I'll take responsibility. Hold on, we have to ask about this. What's up with you being on TV with the PFL shirt on? I mean, I just got done cornering a teammate. Oh, is that what it was? I literally just got done cornering a teammate, and they're like, hey, can we ask you some questions? Habib shows up to Bellator fights

in a Bellator t-shirt cornering Usman and Manalov. It's a shirt! What the? It made the rounds on social media. It made the rounds as if it was a statement. That's what he's trying to say. But you guys had to wear that as the corner uniform essentially. Correct. What am I supposed to do? Go wear a Bellator shirt in the PFL cage?

Who do you think you are? All that's mandated. Plus the smart cage would step in and be like, excuse me, sir. It is smart after all. Who were you cornering that day? Abigail Montez. Ah, okay. Abigail.

Yeah, she's been with us for about a year and a half. Yeah. Part of this newer crop you were referring to earlier. Yeah, she's new, young, up and coming. She's at 55s, though. She's a true 45er, to be honest. Combining all these worlds in this conversation, back to the body shop with Cyborg,

do we see Chris Cyborg, Kayla Harrison one day? Hopefully. I think that'd be a lit fight, honestly. That'd be a lit one. That'd be saucy. That'd be arguably the biggest women's fight in history. Arguably. Arguably?

No. Really? Having lived through... Cyborg Carano is where you're going with this. So I lived through that one. I covered that fight. And I got to tell you, I'm not saying that Kayla versus Cyborg doesn't have its own hugely important relevance.

It does. What I am saying is if you just live through peak Ronda Rousey. Commercially, of course. Commercially. Commercially. And also critically. It's hard to know what could even match that. I mean, that was another level.

Getting to know the great Chris Cyborg, what do you, when you look closely, what's the secret to her success? She's a big lover, dude. She's soft, really just heartfelt person. She's real loving. But she's also got that switch, and she's going to go in there. If you touch her, she's going to walk you down, and she's going to keep swinging. She's not getting old. I mean, she's going to keep swinging. She's not getting old. I mean, she's getting old numerically.

She's not getting old in the cage. Yeah, what do you think the secret is for her longevity? It's one thing to be good. It's another thing to be good for a really long time. I don't know. I should probably go ask her that. Right? That's what I'm trying to figure out too, man.

Like, are you going to be one of the guys that they're going to have to remove you from this job because you love it so much? That whether it's BKFC, traditional boxing, you know, a jiu-jitsu tournament, you're going to be out there showing up. Probably not. Probably not because I got generations in this, man. I'm second. We have a third and a fourth. I have a 16-year-old brother. He's not a McKee, but he's coming. And him and your other brother, they're going to be better than you.

Definitely. This is all body shop stuff. All body shop. Yeah. All body shop. Wow. Keeping it in house. Body shop versus everybody.

It appears that way. Holy shit. There's a whole lot of you too, man. Um, listen, we appreciate you stopping by again. Let's go over one more time.

Live on Showtime Saturday, uh, October 1st. It'll be Bellator 286 in your neck of the woods, Long Beach, California, Long Beach Convention Center. Yeah, dude.

Oh, one thing about that. Crowd, they're going to be very much on your side. Do you like having, not just a crowd cheering for you, I don't mean that, but your neighbors, people you know,

people who like in your community come to see you. The drummer from Sublime, he might show up. The drummer from Sublime. He might show up. The drummer from Sublime might be there. That'd be lit. A little bit extra pressure or a little bit extra good pressure? Good pressure.

Okay. Motivation. Show up, show up. Okay. You know what? Talking a big game, but you've done it before and then lived it. So I am looking forward to the next 155 chapters. My final question.

Is there a person walking on this planet right now that you're saying to yourself, I will fight that person before my career ends? Who would you say the best 145-pounder is in the world? Alex Volkanovsky. There you go. All right. That just got your city kicking boner pretty excited. Yeah, but you know what?

He's going 155. I want to see how it goes. I want to see how it goes. What does that mean? He's talking about going 155 too. Yeah, but we'll see what happens. We can meet wherever. Fair enough.

A catchway, whatever it is. Parking lot. The great Volkanovski. Side, this cage, that cage, anywhere. We got to do this. But that's the great A.J. McKee. Catch him October 1st live on Showtime. One and only, baby.

Until next time, we're out.