Bellator Prospect Watch: AJ McKee

Bellator Prospect Watch: AJ McKee

By Dan McConnell

For my latest Bellator prospect watch I have chosen a 24-year-old fighter from Long-Beach California, who has a spotless record and is imminently in line for a title shot.

This fighter trains and fights out of Body Shop Fitness in California, which is certainly one of the most interesting camp names in the sport.

Bellator featherweight AJ McKee went 7-1 as an amateur from 2012-2014, showing his love to fight as often as possible and has averaged three fights per year from when he signed with Bellator in 2015.

Two weeks ago at Bellator 221, featherweight title contender McKee continued his meteoric rise to the top of the division by defeating an experienced veteran of the sport in Pat Curran.

Most fans had their eye on the main-event, the bad blood match-up between Michael Chandler and Patricio Pitbull or the fire-fight between former welterweight champion Douglas Lima and video-game style karate specialist Michael ‘Venom’ Page.

But not me, or seemingly the Bellator match-makers as well who wanted to see ‘The Mercenary’ continue his rise and how he would cope with a tricky veteran who has been with the promotion from its inception in 2010.

McKee impressively extended his unbeaten run with a decision victory over the 31-fight Curran, and is one of the hottest prospects in the world of mixed martial arts right now, taking down tough competition in Brian ‘Pikeman’ Moore, John Macapa and now Curran.

Submissions, knee, punch, head knock-outs and decision victories are all on the well-rounded prospects shiny record. But can he get his hands on a shiny new belt for the first time?

McKee has been calling for a chance to face featherweight champions Patricio Pitbull for some time, and with the Bellator MMA featherweight tournament starting in October, I’d expect McKee to feature and get ever closer to lifting that title.

The 145-pounder has the most consecutive wins with 14 in Bellator history, nothing more than a title shot will do with big things on the horizon!

Bellator turned bantamweight James Gallagher and McKee’s rivalry is still not settled, this may be another option in the future and one we can all look forward too!