Still recovering from knee injury, McKee happy June fight was delayed
A.J. McKee was scheduled to face Darrion Caldwell in the semifinals of the Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix on June 6, but the Bellator 244 event in Chicago was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The rising star says the delay was a "blessing in disguise," as it's given him more time to recover from the knee surgery he underwent in January after tearing his LCL in a December fight.
"I would definitely say I was happy (when the event was postponed)," McKee told theScore. "It bought me a little more time to just make sure that I'm healthy. Health is key to this game."
McKee said his doctor told him it would take five-to-eight months to recover from the surgery. "The Mercenary" estimated that he's currently at 70 or 80% - and likely wouldn't have been fully recovered by June 6. But that wouldn't have stopped him from showing up had the event proceeded.
"If I sign a contract to fight, I'm gonna show up to fight - ready or not," McKee said. "I've taken fights with broken hands before. I just show up to fight. It's a mentality.
"I'm gonna adapt to whatever circumstances are at hand," McKee continued, adding that he suffered the LCL tear in the first 30 seconds of his bout with Derek Campos, which he won by third-round submission.
"At the end of the day," he said, "I'm not gonna let anything stand in my way, whether it's an injury, whether it's a person. I've got a path that I'm on, and I'm stuck to it."
The 25-year-old has been able to train during the COVID-19 crisis because his father, MMA veteran Antonio McKee, owns a gym in California. But he isn't really thinking about the Caldwell fight because two of the tournament's quarterfinal bouts have yet to happen. Both matchups were scheduled for a Bellator card in March that was postponed on fight day due to the pandemic.
When the quarterfinals wrap up later in 2020, McKee will start his training camp for his semifinal bout against Caldwell, a former Bellator bantamweight champion.
"I'm gonna be more than ready when that opportunity arises to get back in that cage," McKee said. "And when it does, Caldwell is gonna have his hands full."