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

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.
He also now holds a win over Bellator's current LW champ.

Interesting that both of Bellator's "champ champs" have lost the title at their lower weight class.

I believe that unified rules prevent any fight being for more than one division's belt, but since 145 is obviously < 155 I feel like McKee should get both belts. Now they either have a paper champ at 155 or have to do a rematch for McKee to take the other belt which is a recipe for logjammed divisions.
 
He's going to take him to the Cinabun at the Vegas airport
 
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
 
He's gonna invite him to eat one of those greesy crap food he eats on fridays.

Literally a tgi fridays "Aaron I like this place you come on Tuesday but here it's always Friday!"
 
“When his contract is up, he’ll have to call. We’ll see what we can do.”

LOL @ this asshole.

Dude is one of the best fighters outside the UFC, but he'll have to get in touch with them to find out if there's an opening on the roster.
 
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?
I don’t see Bellator being able to prop up fame and stardom for him for long.. He’ll literally have to sign to the UFC if he wants to fully break through, which could easily get knocked down a notch when a top 5er pushes his shit in.
 
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After his father called Dana piece of shit, I doubt its gonna happen any time soon.
 
Will probably send the gopher to fetch Costco hotdog soda combo.
 
“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.
Really shows you the quality of that card lol.
 
Hopefully The Pink Don can make Coker an offer he can’t refuse. The shitty thing about Bellator is it’s clearly the best place to develop your career when you’re starting out (by a country mile), but you’re almost punished for doing well. You get a tournament/belt and you’re locked in.

If Dana and Coker were smart, they’d work out a deal where at a certain point young/promising guys would be exchanged for the washed up but with some drawing power still guys Coker loves to make fights with. McKee for Arlovski type of shit.
 
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