Former Bellator featherweight champ AJ McKee was less than thrilled with his lightweight debut. Although McKee earned himself a victory, he revealed on The MMA Hour that his weight cut was plagued with issues.
“It felt good. I think my body just needs a bit more time to get acclimated to the strength so I can have consistent go power. I felt there were a couple of little things in that fight, like, cardio-wise. The output was just insane, so I can’t really… it was kind of a lot. But there were a couple of little things I need to make adjustments to.
AJ McKee Reveals Issues Plaguing 155-pound Debut
I didn’t cut weight properly either, so that was kind of a factor as well. Little adjustments. Every fight you learn something, and I was just really taking in those couple of little key things.”
McKee specifically referenced his diet – or lack thereof – as an issue with the weight cut. “Nothing, it’s just that dieting’s key for mixed martial arts.
There’s just a couple of little things. I got down to those last couple of pounds and it wasn’t easy. I didn’t expect it to be easy, but with the right diet, I mean, I made ‘45. I can still make ‘45. So with that being said, you’ve just got to make sure everything is right and dialed in. This was just kind of more like a freelance weight cut.”
Now, McKee is building a heavier, more muscular physique for the 155-pound division. “Once I got the call that I was able to move up to ‘55, it was like, OK, you need to get big now.
You need to pack on weight. You need to have high protein, so a lot of steak was the go-to. Steak, chicken, I got ahi tuna. I got lobster. Surf and turf is my jam right there. You get a nice ribeye with a couple of pieces of lobster, dip it in the buster, a little vanilla truffle oil.
I’m just going to continue to eat and get bigger unless they call me with this ‘45-pound fight. But if they call me with a ‘45-pound fight, I need to know this, because it’s going to take me a bit of dieting, a lot of running, and dialing back in because I’m currently sitting at 180 already. I need to know, we need to know.”
Will AJ McKee continue to improve as a Bellator lightweight? Let us know in the comments.
