Lightweight fighter Antonio “Mandingo” McKee had one of the most impressive records outside of the Ultimate Fighting Championship having gone 17-1-1 since 2002. One of the biggest reasons fans weren’t seeing him fight in the octagon was due to criticism that McKee was a boring fighter who fought safe fights by earning decision wins. Over the years McKee has developed a personality for the sport to increase interest in him by being controversial when it’s come to doing interviews.
That controversy helped to catch the interest of the UFC who asked him to finish opponents if he ever wanted to fight for the UFC, and that’s exactly what he did by finishing his last two opponents.
Now, at age 40, McKee will make his octagon debut against Jacob Volkmann this coming Saturday and “Mandingo” is set to unleash his “controversial personality” to hype the fight.
“I’m going to take them out one at a time,” McKee says of the lightweight division within the first five minutes of conversation. “Who’s going to beat McKee at 155? Only way I lose is if I’m not in shape or I get caught. Whose wrestling is better than mine? Gray Maynard? [Jacob] Volkmann? I’m going to make Volkmann look like nothing. We thought Volkmann could wrestle. Volkmann can’t wrestle.”
“I feel like I’m the Muhammad Ali of MMA,” he says. “I feel like I’m the Don King of MMA. I feel like I’m the Tupac Shakur of MMA. I’m the mouth, the talent, the brains, and I’m also the business side. Where does that put me? That puts me as one of the all-time greatest black mixed martial arts fighters.”
“A lot of times when people interview me, they provoke me to say the things that I say,” McKee admits, “and I know they’re doing it, so I play the game. That’s why I’m one of the most interviewed fighters in the game. I create controversy, and controversy sells.”
Be sure to visit Sherdog.com for the entire interview with McKee as he discusses his turbulent childhood, the long path to the UFC, and his future as a 40 year old fighter entering the top promotion in the world.