Scott Coker remembers watching A.J. McKee in his final amateur fight in 2014 – a submission win, by the way – and knowing he had something special when the then-19-year-old pointed at the Bellator president imploring Coker to sign him.
Nine months later, McKee made his professional debut with Bellator and started racking up wins in record fashion in what’s been a very slow build to nearly the top of the featherweight division.
“We didn’t want to throw him into the deep end too soon because we really felt like he was something special,” Coker said. “He had to win these fights, though. It’s not like he was out there fighting taxi cab fighters. He was fighting real fights, guys that potentially could beat him equal to his talent level. But he just kept getting better and better.”
Six years later, McKee, 25, remains undefeated at 17-0 and is on the cusp of Bellator gold after advancing to the final of the promotion’s featherweight grand prix. McKee will face the winner of a semifinal between champion Patricio Freire and Emmanuel Sanchez, who are expected to meet in February.
In his own semifinal, McKee passed his toughest test to date with flying colors when he submitted former 135-pound champion Darrion Caldwell in just over a minute using a unique neck-crank technique from bottom position that’s become known as the “McKee-otine” and has him under consideration for “Submission of the Year.”
McKee has cruised to the tournament final with three victories by stoppage – an eight-second knockout of Georgi Karakhanyan followed by back-to-back submissions against Derek Campos and Caldwell. Coker already thinks the world of his budding star. But for anyone who might still have doubts, he points to the final perhaps being the moment that nobody can deny his status as one of the best fighters in the world.
“I think he is already a big star for Bellator, and he’s on his way to becoming a mega star for Bellator and the sport,” Coker said. “And, really, it’s gonna be up to us to promote him properly and keep him out there.”
He continued, “Here’s a kid that is extremely intelligent. He’s a good looking kid. He’s built well. He’s marketable. He can talk. He has this swagger about him, and I call it the X-factor. Some people have it, and some people don’t.
“He’s gonna definitely have his opportunity to raise his level of how people feel about him being the best in the world when he fights the winner of the Sanchez vs. ‘Pitbull’ fight in the finals of this tournament.”