Is AJ McKee elite?

[RizinSon88]

Yeah, he is elite if that means top 10 in the world at the weight. I mean he holds one the 4 viable belts in his weight class (with all due respect to KSW, Eagle and Combate).

 

[careto]

Unless they want to ease back on Lima to get him a win and bring him back up I dont see how you dont make that fight. If they dont and give Lima someone down in the rankings what do they do with jackson who deserves a big fight?

J. Jackson vs Larkin and Lima vs Daley is the other possibility.

 

[NicholasJBasile]

Only watched his fight against Pitbull and it ended very fast I couldn't judge his skillset.
So what's his level? How did he do against the rest of the competition, is he losing rounds? getting dropped? taken down? outstriked?
How would he fare against the top 5 FW in the UFC?

I feel he is -- brought up under the tutelage of his old man, Antonio McKee, whom was a very well experienced vet (many people found him boring). He has a wrestling base but prefers to stand and trade -- had a slick submission off his back against Darion Caldwell.

 

[Pem123]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I Personally think he is the best FW in the world right now.

 

[Go Go Plata]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I Personally think he is the best FW in the world right now.

He has taken practically no damage and is still young. He can put up a great fight against the best in the world.

 

[Pem123]

He has taken practically no damage and is still young. He can put up a great fight against the best in the world.

He remind me a lot of Jon Jones, Probably just as talented but with more discipline.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

He remind me a lot of Jon Jones, Probably just as talented but with more discipline.

I dunno about that, Jon was a UFC champion with 7 defences by the age AJ is now. I think with his out of cage antics and recent inactivity/performances we forget just how much of a phenom he used to be.

 

[Go Go Plata]

I dunno about that, Jon was a UFC champion with 7 defences by the age AJ is now. I think with his out of cage antics and recent inactivity/performances we forget just how much of a phenom he used to be.

With the evolution of MMA there may not ever be another young, dominant champion like Jon Jones but AJ McKee is close. If 2022 ends up him beating Pitbull in a rematch, defending the title vs Borics and then winning the LW title, he edges even closer.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

With the evolution of MMA there may not ever be another young, dominant champion like Jon Jones but AJ McKee is close. If 2022 ends up him beating Pitbull in a rematch, defending the title vs Borics and then winning the LW title, he edges even closer.

He's nowhere near Jon realistically in terms of competition. That's not his fault, he hasn't got the opponents but beating Borics and Patricky wouldn't bring him close to Jones.

 

[STAY GOLD]

Yes, he is. McKee is a beast.

 

[Go Go Plata]

He's nowhere near Jon realistically in terms of competition. That's not his fault, he hasn't got the opponents but beating Borics and Patricky wouldn't bring him close to Jones.

I disagree. LHW was a mess of washed up, battered fighters with KO power when Jones won his title. Not discounting his greatness. I think beating Pitbull is a greater achievement than beating Shogun. AJ's competition has been much more well rounded

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I disagree. LHW was a mess of washed up, battered fighters with KO power when Jones won his title. Not discounting his greatness. I think beating Pitbull is a greater achievement than beating Shogun.

I think it's similar, doing it twice would be good. The problem for him is that Borics and Patricky are nowhere near the best in the world in their prospective divisions. So it kind of becomes a case of Jones beating Shogun twice and then beating Jason Brilz or something.

 

[Go Go Plata]

I think it's similar, doing it twice would be good. The problem for him is that Borics and Patricky are nowhere near the best in the world in their prospective divisions. So it kind of becomes a case of Jones beating Shogun twice and then beating Jason Brilz or something.

Fair enough. I do want him to fight Bellator's best and then head to UFC in 1-2 years.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Fair enough. I do want him to fight Bellator's best and then head to UFC in 1-2 years.

I agree he's probably elite, it's just difficult for him to prove when there's only one other top 15 or so fighter in his weight class and you can't see him defend against different elite fighters with a range of different skillsets.

 

[careto]

I agree he's probably elite, it's just difficult for him to prove when there's only one other top 15 or so fighter in his weight class and you can't see him defend against different elite fighters with a range of different skillsets.

I'd argue that Borics, Burnell, Patricio, and Pico all would easily crack top 15 in the UFC, some would even crack top 10... and Patricio is easily top 5.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I'd argue that Borics, Burnell, Patricio, and Pico all would easily crack top 15 in the UFC, some would even crack top 10... and Patricio is easily top 5.

Maybe long term, other than Patricio and maybe Burnell I don't think any are right now.

 

[careto]

Maybe long term, other than Patricio and maybe Burnell I don't think any are right now.

Fair point, as a whole the UFC has better prospects at FW than Bellator right now. Pico is the best prospect at FW, IMO, but Yusuf, Evolev, Topuria, and Mitchell are all pretty solid. Again, the UFC just in cheer numbers overwhelm everything else. Jay Jay seemed really promising, too but I dont think he will find success at LW.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Fair point, as a whole the UFC has better prospects at FW than Bellator right now. Pico is the best FW prosoect at FW, IMO, but Yusuf, Evolev, Topuria, and Mitchell are all pretty solid. Again, the UFC just in cheer numbers overwhelm everything else. Jay Jay seemed really promising, too but I dont think he will find success at LW.

Topuria is the one for me, but I do like Pico a lot.

 

[tehMoose]

Fair point, as a whole the UFC has better prospects at FW than Bellator right now. Pico is the best FW prosoect at FW, IMO, but Yusuf, Evolev, Topuria, and Mitchell are all pretty solid. Again, the UFC just in cheer numbers overwhelm everything else. Jay Jay seemed really promising, too but I dont think he will find success at LW.

I also like Law and Khasan. They have very high ceilings

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I also like Law and Khasan. They have very high ceilings

I like Law, but I'd like to see him get some stiffer competition. Not decided on Khasan yet.