Dana White weighs in on Bellator champ A.J. McKee, says he'll make good on years' old lunch bet

TCE

"That's fucking illegal"
Pink Belt
Joined
Sep 17, 2005
Messages
19,286
Reaction score
17,216
McKee (18-0 MMA, 18-0 BMMA) revealed in a 2020 interview with MMA Junkie Radio how he met White 13 years ago. When he told White of his plans to become world champion, the UFC president told him he’d buy him lunch if it one day happened.

“That’s awesome,” White told UFC Arabia on Tuesday. “Well, if I said it, I’ll keep my word, and I will buy him lunch. No, I haven’t seen (his win at Bellator 263). I didn’t even see our fight on Saturday, unfortunately. I haven’t seen his, but good for him. That’s an awesome story.”

In a separate interview with TSN, White reacted to McKee’s callouts of the UFC’s top featherweights, including champion Alexander Volkanovski, former champ Max Holloway and Brian Ortega.

“I don’t know. We’ll see,” White said. “When his contract is up, he’ll have to call. We’ll see what we can do.”

McKee, 26, has competed only for Bellator MMA at the professional level. Despite being locked in a contract with Bellator, McKee has never ruled out a possible future move to the UFC.

That didn’t change with his title status as he invited any featherweight – or promotion – in the world to take him on in a cross-promotion fight. If the stakes need to be upped, McKee added he’ll be willing to bet $1 million on himself.

In addition to his $1 million bonus-earning, title win over Freire, McKee holds wins over former Bellator bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell and former Bellator featherweight champion Pat Curran, among others.

https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/08/ufc-news-dana-white-aj-mckee-bellator-lunch-bet
 
Hope it happens sooner than later. Cant wait to see Mckee tuned up by any top 5 UFC FW.
 
https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021...ract-status-details-show-value-ufc-move-money

AJ going full Conor at the moment, talking about not wanting to defend the title and hunt in other weight classes - maybe go boxing.

I hope Coker was ready for this - those guys have built up these fighters at the expense of virtually every show they've ever produced, waiting and waiting and waiting before matching their top fighters against each other, and doing so VERY rarely.

Now they've got a guy 'with a millionaire mindset' who doesn't care about the division he's just topped, despite Bellator pumping so much time into him, giving him 10+ easy fights.

What's the plan now, guys? You built up a guy to the point he seems to think he's a megastar, now what? Imagine if they're successful in multiple weight classes? No more title defences? What's the end goal here, Scott and co?
 
McKee (18-0 MMA, 18-0 BMMA) revealed in a 2020 interview with MMA Junkie Radio how he met White 13 years ago. When he told White of his plans to become world champion, the UFC president told him he’d buy him lunch if it one day happened.

“That’s awesome,” White told UFC Arabia on Tuesday. “Well, if I said it, I’ll keep my word, and I will buy him lunch. No, I haven’t seen (his win at Bellator 263). I didn’t even see our fight on Saturday, unfortunately. I haven’t seen his, but good for him. That’s an awesome story.”

In a separate interview with TSN, White reacted to McKee’s callouts of the UFC’s top featherweights, including champion Alexander Volkanovski, former champ Max Holloway and Brian Ortega.

“I don’t know. We’ll see,” White said. “When his contract is up, he’ll have to call. We’ll see what we can do.”

McKee, 26, has competed only for Bellator MMA at the professional level. Despite being locked in a contract with Bellator, McKee has never ruled out a possible future move to the UFC.

That didn’t change with his title status as he invited any featherweight – or promotion – in the world to take him on in a cross-promotion fight. If the stakes need to be upped, McKee added he’ll be willing to bet $1 million on himself.

In addition to his $1 million bonus-earning, title win over Freire, McKee holds wins over former Bellator bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell and former Bellator featherweight champion Pat Curran, among others.

https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/08/ufc-news-dana-white-aj-mckee-bellator-lunch-bet
I like how Dana laughs when Co-promotion is mentioned in passing

 
https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021...ract-status-details-show-value-ufc-move-money

AJ going full Conor at the moment, talking about not wanting to defend the title and hunt in other weight classes - maybe go boxing.

I hope Coker was ready for this - those guys have built up these fighters at the expense of virtually every show they've ever produced, waiting and waiting and waiting before matching their top fighters against each other, and doing so VERY rarely.

Now they've got a guy 'with a millionaire mindset' who doesn't care about the division he's just topped, despite Bellator pumping so much time into him, giving him 10+ easy fights.

What's the plan now, guys? You built up a guy to the point he seems to think he's a megastar, now what? Imagine if they're successful in multiple weight classes? No more title defences? What's the end goal here, Scott and co?

Pb for him and bellator is that they dont have very interesting guys to match him up with, anymore.
Thats also why he is talking imo.
 
How many fights left on his contract?
MMA Junkie:
Going in, the fight was technically the last on McKee’s current contract. However, the fact he won the title kicked in a “champion’s clause,” McKee said, which extended his deal for three fights. He also has the option to sit out for 12 months, which would bring the deal to its expiration.
 
Calling it now, Dana doesn't go through on his word.

"It was just a joke you fucking moron goof! Don't ever call me out on Bellashit ever again!"

<{danayeah}>
 
Pb for him and bellator is that they dont have very interesting guys to match him up with, anymore.
Thats also why he is talking imo.

Absolutely; that's the end game of lopsided promotion and an endless number of gimme fights.

Bellator just aren't offering a logical, long-term product right now.

McKee has broken through, as was planned from day one, but what hasn't been planned is who he should fight next.

Them's the basics.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
1,234,255
Messages
55,267,842
Members
174,714
Latest member
cartoonq123
Back
Top