Antonio McKee: A.J. McKee is ‘a f*cking truck’ running into ‘Volkswagen’ Alexander Volkanovski
A.J. McKee’s father has a bold prediction for what will happen if the undefeated Bellator phenom ever faces off with current UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
Although they are separated by a promotion, Antonio McKee said his son would mop the floor with Volkanovski.
“Are you f*cking kidding me? He’d blow right through that guy,” Antonio McKee said Wednesday on The MMA Hour. “Are you watching their styles? What the f*ck? It wouldn’t even go two rounds.
“He might finish him in the first round. What is he going to do? That guy is too f*cking small. We’re talking range, distance, timing, speed, strength. That’s like a f*cking truck running into a Volkswagen.”
A.J. McKee shares his father’s confidence in a cross-promotional fight, of course. After beating two-division Bellator champ Patricio Pitbull at Bellator 263 to capture the featherweight title, he offered to put him $1 million against champions in every MMA promotion including the UFC, which next puts the featherweight division in the spotlight next month when Volkanovski headlines UFC 266 opposite one-time title challenger and opposing The Ultimate Fighter 29 coach Brian Ortega.
The likelihood of a champion vs. champion showdown between Bellator and the UFC is a non-starter considering the UFC has never done it before. But that won’t stop the McKees from talking about it.
From the sound of things, Antonio McKee would entertain negotiations with the UFC if his son’s agent is unable to secure a new deal with Bellator in light of the title-winning performance against Pitbull. Only a champion’s clause in his current one has put a kink in the champ’s plans.
“That’s kind of where we’re at,” he said of current negotiations after revealing a three-fight obligation to Bellator. “But I don’t want to sit out too much longer.”
Antonio McKee said his son’s ascension from young up-and-comer to undefeated champion was his destiny.
“I was proud of him,” the elder McKee said. “But we knew this was coming. This ain’t nothing new. This kid is something different. Regardless of whether I got respect or not, I live in America. What’s different for a black male coming from low income poverty to being the best fighter or best wrestler or best at whatever he does and doing it independently? I’m used to that. He’s been brought up and trained to beat adversity. That’s the way I lived my whole life. I grew up in the projects. We know that.
“So when I don’t understand your textbook writing to be successful, don’t get upset. But I did it the way I knew how to do it. And so I was able to teach him a better way, and that’s what I think we need to focus on is, him being better than me, from the dressing to the fighting to how he conducts himself, to even his lifestyle, but having the same morals and integrity that I carry in the streets and everyday life. That’s important.
“So I wasn’t really excited about [A.J. McKee winning the title]. I was like, ‘OK, Phase 1, now let’s keep moving. Phase 2, let’s keep moving. Phase 3. This has been planned. This kid wrote a check to himself when he was 9 years old for $1 million. ... So this was kind of like prophecy. You can’t stop god.”
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