(pictured Court McGee and Kris McCray via MMAWeekly.com)
An emotional Court McGee dedicated his victory over fellow “The Ultimate Fighter” 11 finalist Kris McCray “to anyone who’s struggling,” in reference to his past issues with drug abuse, and to his coach Chuck Liddell, as part of his victory speech in the main event of Saturday’s “TUF 11″ Finale.
The Utah based fighter used takedowns to earn the nod in the first round, using his ground-and-pound and striking effectively. The second was similar, except McGee utilized his take downs to attempt a couple of submissions.
After taking McCray down with a double leg takedown near the cage, McGee was able to take his opponents back to sink in a rear-naked-choke, forcing the Team Oritz/Franklin fighter to tap at 3:41.
McGee had quite the journey to get to this point.
He went to a third round in the opening elimination bout against Seth Baczynski and was picked twelfth overall by Chuck Liddell. He lost to Nick Ring in the sixth prelim fight of the “TUF 11″ series in a close fight that had UFC president Dana White calling for a third round.
McGee stepped in for Rich Attonito in the quarter-finals after Attonito broke his hand. The Utah fighter defeated James Hammortree via submission in the second to move on to face fellow teammate Brad Tavares. Both men went to a third round in their semi-final bout which McGee ended with a rear-naked-choke submission.
McGee was presented with the “TUF” trophy and the six-figure contract by Dana White and was also awarded with the “Submission of the Night” bonus.